Vasily Petrenko: Music Director

Music Director

Vasily Petrenko is Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), 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 most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), St Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and Czech Philharmonic orchestras, and in North America has led the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco, Boston and Chicago Symphony orchestras. He has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, Grafenegg Festival and BBC Proms. Equally at home in the opera house, and with over 30 operas in his repertoire, Vasily has conducted widely on the operatic stage, including at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Dutch National Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

In recent seasons, Vasily has led the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in acclaimed performances in London, including concerts with Yunchan Lim and Maxim Vengerov, appearances at the BBC Proms, and the Icons Rediscovered, Lights in the Dark and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra x Vasily Petrenko series. Together with the RPO he has also undertaken wide-ranging touring across major European capitals and festivals, China, Japan and the USA. Guest appearance highlights have included the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Houston Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where he conducted Beethoven’s Missa solemnis.

The 2026–27 Season sees Vasily and the RPO celebrate the Orchestra’s 80th Anniversary, opening the season at the Royal Albert Hall with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Julia Fischer, Pablo Ferrández and Jan Lisiecki, alongside Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben. The season continues with UK performances of Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ Symphony, Stravinsky’s The Firebird, Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony and Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra. They will also undertake extensive international touring, with concerts in Japan, Turkey and China. Alongside his work with the RPO, Vasily returns to conduct the Singapore Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Spanish National, São Paulo Symphony and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic orchestras, as well as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the Janáček Brno Festival.

Vasily has established a strongly defined profile as a recording artist, with recording projects this season with the Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. His extensive discography includes acclaimed Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff and Elgar symphony cycles with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, he has released cycles of Scriabin’s symphonies and Strauss’ tone poems, alongside an ongoing series of the symphonies of Prokofiev and Myaskovsky. In autumn 2025, he launched a new partnership between the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Harmonia Mundi, beginning with Elgar’s Falstaff and Rachmaninov’s The Bells, followed by Mahler’s Symphony No.3. Future releases include Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony (October 2026) and works by 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.