Yevgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov (russian: Евгéний Фёдорович Светлáнов; 6 September 1928 – 3 May 2002) was a Russian conductor,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Life and work

Svetlanov was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and studied conducting with

Aleksandr Gauk Alexander Vassilievich Gauk (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Га́ук; 30 March 1963) was a Russian/Soviet conductor and composer. Biography Alexander Gauk was born in Odessa in 1893. He recalled his first experience as h ...

at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

. From 1955 he conducted at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

, being appointed principal conductor there in 1962. From 1965 he was principal conductor of the

USSR State Symphony Orchestra The State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov" (Государственный академический симфонический оркестр России имени Е. Ф. Светланова) is a Russian orchestra based in Mo ...

(now the Russian State Symphony Orchestra). In 1979 he was appointed principal guest conductor of the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. Svetlanov was also music director of the

Residentie Orchestra Het Residentie Orkest (literal translation, ''The Residence Orchestra''; known also in English as ''Residentie Orkest The Hague'') is a Dutch orchestra based in The Hague. The orchestra is currently resident at the Amare performing arts centre in T ...

(

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

) from 1992 to 2000 and the

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra ( sv, Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester) is a Swedish radio orchestra based in Stockholm, affiliated with Sveriges Radio (Sweden's Radio). Its principal performing venue is the Berwaldhallen (Berwald Hall). The ...

from 1997 to 1999. In 2000 Svetlanov was fired from his post with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra by the minister of culture of Russia, Mikhail Shvydkoi. The reason given was that Svetlanov was spending too much time conducting abroad and not enough time in Moscow. Svetlanov was particularly noted for his interpretations of Russian works – he covered the whole range of Russian music, from Mikhail Glinka to the present day. He was also one of the few Russian conductors to conduct the entire symphonic output of

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

. His own compositions included a String Quartet (1948), Daugava, Symphonic Poem (1952), Siberian Fantasy for Orchestra, Op. 9 (1953), ''Images d'Espagne'', Rhapsody for orchestra (1954), Symphony (1956), Festive Poem (1966), ''Russian Variations'' for harp and orchestra (1975), Piano Concerto in c minor (1976) and Poem for Violin and Orchestra "To the Memory of David Oistrakh" (1975). He composed ''Siberian Fantasy'' in 1953/54, in collaboration with Igor Yakushenko 932-1999 Svetlanov was also an extremely competent pianist, three notable recordings being

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

's Piano Trio No. 2 in D minor and

Cello Sonata A cello sonata is usually a sonata written for solo cello with piano accompaniment. The most famous Romantic-era cello sonatas are those written by Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven. Some of the earliest cello sonatas were written in the 1 ...

op. 19, and a disc of Nikolai Medtner's piano music. Warner Music France has issued an "Édition officielle Evgeny Svetlanov" featuring Svetlanov's legacy of recordings as conductor and pianist, which by July 2008 had run to 35 volumes of CDs, often multiple-CD boxed sets. The biggest of these is the 16-CD box of the complete symphonies of

Nikolai Myaskovsky Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky or Miaskovsky or Miaskowsky (russian: Никола́й Я́ковлевич Мяско́вский; pl, Mikołaj Miąskowski, syn Jakóbowy; 20 April 18818 August 1950), was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is som ...

, to whose music Svetlanov was devoted.

Legacy

The first

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...

for

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

, as well as asteroid 4135 Svetlanov, were named after Svetlanov. The

State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation The State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov" (Государственный академический симфонический оркестр России имени Е. Ф. Светланова) is a Russian orchestra based in Mo ...

and an international conducting competition also carry his name.Во Франции названы имена лауреатов конкурса дирижеров им. Светланова
izvestia.ru. 13 May 2010

References

External links

Site about Yevgeny Svetlanov and the Svetlanov Competition in MonacoJapanese fan site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Svetlanov, Evgeny 1928 births 2002 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century Russian conductors (music) Russian male conductors (music) 20th-century Russian male musicians Russian classical composers Russian male classical composers Russian classical pianists Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery Male classical pianists Moscow Conservatory alumni Musicians from Moscow People's Artists of the USSR