Mikhail Tatarnikov

/ Musical Director and Principal Conductor 

Mikhail Tatarnikov studied opera and symphony conducting at the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory (class of Alexander Polishchuk).

He made his debut as a conductor at the Mariinsky Theatre in 2006 with the première of the ballet Metaphysics to Prokofiev’s Second Symphony. In 2007, he conducted his first opera – a new production of Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges. He has subsequently conducted a large number of operas and concerts.

In addition to appearances at the Mariinsky Theatre, he has also conducted at the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Settimane Musicali di Stresa (Italy), the Novosibirsk Philharmonic, the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic as well as conducting a gala concert featuring Jennifer Larmore, making his Moscow debut with the Russian National Orchestra and assisting Valery Gergiev on Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Last season Mikhail Tatarnikov conducted numerous operas and concerts at the Mariinsky Theatre as well as the Gävle Symfoniorkester and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and he made his debut in Germany at the opening concert of the Dresden Music Festival with the Russian National Orchestra, followed by performances of Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Komische Oper Berlin.

The engagements of the season 2010/2011 include conducting the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, a gala concert in Veerhaven as part of the Gergiev Festival and a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Riga Opera. In the season 2012/2013 Mikhail Tatarnikov will conduct the performances at La Scala, Opera Bordeaux and Bayerische Staatsoper.

On 1 January 2012  Mikhail  Tatarnikov is taking up the post of the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre.