Spain and Portugal
Vasily Petrenko is Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he assumed in 2021, and which ignited a partnership that has been praised by audiences and critics worldwide. The same year, he became Conductor Laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra following his hugely acclaimed 15-year tenure as their Chief Conductor from 2006–2021. He is Associate Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, and has also served as Chief Conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra (2015–2024), Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2013–2020) and Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (2009–2013). He stood down as Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’ in 2022, having been their Principal Guest Conductor from 2016 and Artistic Director from 2020.
He has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Orchestre National de France and Czech Philharmonic, as well as the Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Boston and Chicago Symphony orchestras. He has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, Grafenegg Festival and BBC Proms, and has conducted widely in opera, including at Glyndebourne, Opéra National de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera.
The 2026–27 season sees Petrenko and the RPO celebrate its 80th anniversary, alongside international touring in Japan, Turkey and China. He also returns to the Singapore Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Spanish National, São Paulo Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and Czech Philharmonic at the Janáček Brno Festival.
Petrenko is an acclaimed recording artist, with new projects this season with the Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and RPO. His extensive discography includes acclaimed Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Elgar cycles, and his partnership with Harmonia Mundi continues with releases of Strauss, Bartók and Stravinsky.
Born in 1976, Vasily was educated at the St Petersburg Capella Boys Music School and St Petersburg Conservatoire. He was Gramophone Artist of the Year (2017), Classical BRIT Male Artist of the Year (2010), and holds honorary degrees from Liverpool’s three universities. In 2024, Vasily also launched a new academy for young conductors, co-organised by the Primavera Foundation Armenia and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra.
