DMITRY  POLYAKOV
Conductor

Dmitry Polyakov is a conductor and composer. His work combines structural clarity, dramatic force and a vivid sense of orchestral colour. He builds programmes around clear artistic ideas, connecting symphonic and operatic classics, rarely heard scores and his own music.

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Polyakov has developed major concert projects with leading Russian orchestras and philharmonic institutions. Symphonic Journeys with the Safonov Academic Symphony Orchestra moves from Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia and Glazunov’s medieval imagery to the Spain of Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov. Tchaikovsky: Turning the Pages… with the Nizhny Tagil Philharmonic Orchestra brings together the First Piano Concerto, Tatyana’s Letter Scene, ballet and orchestral music. For the Easter concert Masterpieces of Russian Symphonic Music, part of the Moscow Philharmonic Society’s Stars of the 21st Century project, Polyakov led the Krasnoyarsk Academic Symphony Orchestra with pianist Vyacheslav Gryaznov as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto. The programme also featured Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture and concluded with Borodin’s Second Symphony.

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His longstanding partnership with the Murmansk Philharmonic Orchestra has been a centre of sustained artistic collaboration. He served as Permanent Guest Conductor and as artistic adviser to the Musical Offering and Melodies of the Arctic festivals. Programmes with Mikhail Mordvinov, Andrey Baranov, Fyodor Belugin and Dmitry Onishchenko included an all-Rachmaninoff evening, an all-Mozart festival opening, Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony. With Mordvinov, he also explored Liszt’s rarely heard Malediction and Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings.

As Principal Conductor of the Scottsdale Philharmonic, Polyakov led a sold-out performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony that drew a standing ovation and three curtain calls. In The Daily Independent, the orchestra’s leadership described it as one of the best concerts in the ensemble’s history.

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He brought his conducting and composition together in a programme featuring his own Concerto for Strings alongside music by Mahler, Schnittke and Sviridov. His compositions have also been performed by the Studio for New Music ensemble.

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His operatic work includes Verdi’s La traviata and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. In her review of the Karaganda performance, entitled “The Triumph of The Barber”, Natalia Inzhevskaya called Polyakov “a professional of the highest calibre”, noting the aristocratic quality of his conducting and the audience’s ovations. His Polish performances drew praise for “a unique blend of composure and emotional expressiveness”. At the Music Days on the Oder festival, he conducted Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony with the Zielona Góra Philharmonic Orchestra.

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He has also conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt and Orquesta Sinfónica de Castelló. With the Falmouth Chamber Players Orchestra in the United States, he conducted Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony in a programme with Beethoven and Schumann. The musicians praised his exceptionally productive rehearsals and the higher level of musicianship and artistry achieved under his direction.

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Polyakov graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in composition and operatic and symphonic conducting. He is based in New York.