Alexander Alexandrovich Vedernikov (January 11, 1964, Moscow — October 30, 2020, there) was an outstanding Soviet and Russian conductor who was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 2007.\ Was born into a musical family: His father, Alexander Vedernikov, was a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre, and his mother, Natalia Gureeva, was a pianist, organist, and professor at the Moscow Conservatory.
Alexander Vedernikov was born on January 11, 1964 in the capital. After graduating from the Academic Music College at the Moscow Conservatory with a piano degree, in 1988 he completed his studies at the Moscow Conservatory with a degree in opera and symphony conducting under the direction of Leonid Nikolaev. Further improvement of his skills took place under the mentorship of Mark Ermler.
From 1988 to 1991, Vedernikov served as a conductor at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow State Academic Musical Theater. During the same period, from 1988 to 1995, he worked as an assistant and then second conductor at the Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Fedoseyev.
In the 1990s, Vedernikov proved himself to be an outstanding conductor of ballet performances in theaters in Milan, Turin and Rome, among which were "Swan Lake the Lake", "The Nutcracker" and "Sleeping Beauty" by Tchaikovsky, as well as "Romeo and Juliet" by Prokofiev.
In the 1996-1997 season, Alexander made his stage debut at the Royal Covent Garden Theatre, where he conducted Prokofiev's ballet Cinderella and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
His opera career included performances in such famous theaters as the Paris National Opera, Berlin State Opera, Deutsche Oper, Komische Oper, Stockholm Opera, Copenhagen Opera, Helsinki Philharmonic, Hamburg State Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Zurich Opera and many others. In 2013, he performed for the first time on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.
Vedernikov has collaborated with leading Russian orchestras such as the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Russian National Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Honored Collective of Russia, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Among the foreign ensembles with which he worked were the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Orchestra, the Orchestra de Paris, the National Orchestra of France, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Royal National Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the RAI National Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra of the USA, the symphony orchestras of Montreal, The Hague, Budapest, Sydney, Sao Paulo and others.
From 2001 to 2004 Vedernikov led and conducted the symphony orchestra "Russian Philharmonic" founded by him. From June 27, 2001 to July 17, 2009, he served as chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater, where he staged such operas as "Khovanshchina", "Adrianne Lecouvreur", "Ruslan and Lyudmila", "Turandot", "The Flying Dutchman", "The Fiery Angel", "War and Peace", "Eugene Onegin", "Falstaff", "Boris Godunov" in the author's edition, "The Legend of the City of Kitezh" and others. As musical director, he also directed the premiere of Leonid Desyatnikov's opera "Rosenthal's Children", but left the theater due to disagreements with the management.
From 2009 to 2018, Vedernikov was the chief conductor of the Odense Symphony Orchestra in Denmark, and since 2018 — its honorary conductor. In September 2017, he became chief conductor of the Royal Danish Opera.
In 2019, Vedernikov was appointed music director and chief conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg.
Among the outstanding soloists with whom he collaborated were Marta Argerich, Misha Maisky, Frank-Peter Zimmerman, Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Mikhail Pletnev, Nikolai Lugansky, Boris Berezovsky, Andrey Korobeynikov, Alexander Knyazev, Laivicius Sinevalau, Olga Borodina, Sergey Leiferkus and others.
Alexander Alexandrovich Vedernikov died at the age of 57 on October 30, 2020 from pneumonia in Moscow, where he was undergoing treatment for coronavirus. He was buried at the Mius cemetery.
