TEODOR CURRENTZIS, conductor

TEODOR CURRENTZIS is Music Director of Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, and Founder and Music Director of Musica Aeterna Ensemble and New Siberian Singers Chamber Choir.

Currentzis was born in Athens in 1972. He studied violin and music theory and, subsequently, classical singing with professors Dion Arivas at the Greek Conservatory, and Kostas Paschalis at the Athenaeum Conservatory. In 1989, he began his studies in orchestral conducting under maestro George Hadjinikos and continued to perform, both as an orchestral conductor and as violinist, as well as attending major international Master Classes.

In the early 1990s, Currentzis went to Russia where he studied conducting at the state conservatory of St. Petersburg, under the tutelage of Professor Ilya Musin, whose pupils, among others, were renowned conductors Odyseuss Dimitriadis, Valery Gergyev, Yuri Termirkanov and Semyon Bychkov.

In 1999, he received a scholarship from the Alexander Onassis Foundation to complete his postgraduate studies in conducting, while at the same time being appointed assistant to Yuri Temirkanov, the Director of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. As both orchestral conductor and soloist, Teodor Currentzis has taken part in concerts with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre (Kirov). In autumn of 2001, he became Conductor at the Helikon Opera Theatre in Moscow, where he conducted Verdi's operas, Falstaff and Aïda.

Teodor Currentzis regularly conducts the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra, the Large Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA and the New Russia Orchestra.

In 2003, Currentzis conducted the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra of Vladimir Spivakov and shortly thereafter was appointed its Permanent Conductor. In October 2003, he produced a series of ballets by Stravinsky at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. In March 2004, Currentzis performed Verdi's Aïda there, and in May of this same year, he became the Artistic Director of the theatre. In March 2007, he conducted the RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA with baritone DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY on the Opening Night of Festival for the Arts BOCA 2007. Curreentzis will return to conduct the RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA at FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS BOCA 2008. Also in 2008, he will make his Paris Opera debut conducting Verdi's Don Carlo.

In Novosibirsk, Currentzis founded the Musica Aeterna Ensemble and the New Siberian Singers Chamber Choir. In 2005, he was declared "Maestro of the Year" by the Moscow press.

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