Kirill Petrenko

Kirill Petrenko
Petrenko at Berlin Philharmonic, August 2019
Born
Kirill Garrievich Petrenko

(1972-02-11) 11 February 1972
Omsk, USSR
OccupationConductor

Kirill Garrievich Petrenko (Russian: Кирилл Гарриевич Петренко, Latin script: Kirill Garrievič Petrenko; born 11 February 1972) is a Russian-Austrian conductor. He is chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Early life

Petrenko was born in Omsk, then in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union, to a violinist father and musicologist mother.[1] He is of Jewish heritage[2] but grew up with little religion.[3] His father was born in Lviv, now in Ukraine.[4] Petrenko studied piano, debuting at age 11.

At 18, when Soviet borders opened, he and his family emigrated to Austria, where his father joined the Symphony Orchestra Vorarlberg. Petrenko studied music at the Vorarlberger Landeskonservatorium in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, graduating with honors in piano. He continued his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, including with conductor Uroš Lajovic. His other conducting teachers and mentors include Myung-Whun Chung, Edward Downes, Péter Eötvös, Ferdinand Leitner, Roberto Carnevale, and Semyon Bychkov.

Career

1995–2002: Early career

Petrenko made his conducting debut in 1995 in Vorarlberg with Benjamin Britten's Let's Make an Opera. He was a Kapellmeister at the Vienna Volksoper from 1997 to 1999. From 1999 to 2002, he was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Südthüringisches Staatstheater, based at the Meiningen Court Theatre, where his work included conducting Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2001 over four consecutive days,[5] his first professional engagement with Wagner's operas.[6]

2002–2015: Komische Oper Berlin and Bavarian State Opera

Petrenko was GMD of the Komische Oper Berlin from 2002 to 2007. He debuted with the Bavarian State Opera in 2003 and returned in 2009 for a production of Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa. In October 2010, he was appointed the Bavarian State Opera's next GMD, to start in 2013.[7]

He first guest-conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in 2006, and again in 2009 and 2012. A planned 2014 appearance was canceled due to injury.[8] From 2013 to 2015, he conducted Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival. Petrenko called for Ukraine's sovereignty to be respected during the 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.[4]

Since 2015: Berlin Philharmonic and Bavarian State Opera Leadership

In June 2015, the Berlin Philharmonic elected Petrenko as its next chief conductor,[1] his first symphony orchestra chief role outside opera, with an anticipated start date after 2018.[9] That October, his Bavarian State Opera contract, originally through 2018,[9] was extended through 2021, albeit as guest conductor in the final season.[10] That same month, the Berlin Philharmonic announced he would formally begin as chief conductor in the 2019–2020 season, with guest appearances beforehand.[10][11] His official tenure start was confirmed for 19 August 2019.[12]

In March 2020, Petrenko and Monika Grütters, as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in Germany, assumed patronage of the Musiker-Nothilfe, supporting freelance musicians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.[13] He condemned the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine as a "knife in the back of the entire peaceful world" that February.[14]

He has championed Arnold Schoenberg's music with the Berlin Philharmonic, including Verklärte Nacht, the Chamber Symphony No. 1, and the first recording in over 20 years of the oratorio fragment Die Jakobsleiter, released in 2025 as part of a set.[15]

Petrenko conducting a concert of the Berlin Philharmonic on August 2019.

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b Volker Blech (22 June 2015). "Kirill Petrenko wird Chef der Berliner Philharmoniker". Berliner Morgenpost. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  2. ^ Kirill Petrenko the surprise successor to Simon Rattle at Berlin Philharmonic, The Times (22 June 2015)
  3. ^ ""Every day with this orchestra is special"".
  4. ^ a b "Dirigent Petrenko besorgt über Lage in Ukraine". Focus. 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  5. ^ Reihnard J. Brembeck (6 October 2010). "Wunder aus Sibirien". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  6. ^ Reihnard J. Brembeck (5 October 2010). "Kommt der Opernwundermann?". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Archived from the original on 8 October 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  7. ^ "Petrenko kommt". Süddeutsche Zeitung. 6 October 2010. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  8. ^ Michael Cooper (22 June 2015). "Berlin Philharmonic Selects Kirill Petrenko to Succeed Simon Rattle". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  9. ^ a b Ben Knight (22 June 2015). "Kirill Petrenko to succeed Simon Rattle at the Berlin Philharmonic". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  10. ^ a b Matthias Wulff (13 October 2015). "Kirill Petrenko kommt später als erwartet nach Berlin". Berliner Morgenpost. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Kirill Petrenko will take up office as chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker in the 2019/2020 season" (Press release). Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. 13 October 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Kirill Petrenko unterzeichnet Vertrag" (Press release). Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 30 August 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  13. ^ Fredrrik Hanssen (7 April 2020). "Monika Grütters und Kirill Petrenko helfen Musikern in Not". Der Tagesspiegel. Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Statement by the Berliner Philharmoniker and their chief conductor Kirill Petrenko on the Russian invasion of Ukraine". Berliner Philharmoniker. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  15. ^ Clements, Andrew (19 September 2025). "Schoenberg: Violin Concerto, Verklärte Nacht, Die Jakobsleiter album review – a compelling and impressive collection". The Guardian.
  16. ^ "2014". Opera Awards. 30 August 2016.
  17. ^ "2020/21". Opera Awards. 5 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Kirill Petrenko Receives Denmark's Léonie Sonning Music Prize for 2026". The Violin Channel. 25 August 2025. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
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