Alexander Polyanichko

• Honoured Artist of Russia
• Prize-winner at the VI All-Union Conducting Competition (1988)

Graduated from the faculty of opera and symphony conducting of the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire and trained as an assistant to Professor Ilya Musin (1988). Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Byelorussian State Chamber Orchestra (1986-1989). Has taught at the opera and symphony conducting faculty of the Leningrad and Byelorussian Conservatoires (1986-1989).
Has been a conductor with the Mariinsky Theatre since 1989 and has toured with the company to Europe, Israel, the USA, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. As a guest conductor he has appeared at many renowned opera houses including the Australian Opera, English National Opera, the Bolshoi Theatre, Welsh National Opera, the Danish Royal Opera, the Deutsche Oper, the Stuttgart Oper, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Norwegian Royal Opera, San Francisco Opera and the Opéra National de Paris. Has worked with leading symphony orchestras throughout Russia, the CIS, Australia, Belgium, the UK, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, France and the USA.
Jury member at the Rimsky-Korsakov Young Opera Singers' Competition (1995). Together with the Royal Baltic Festival and the Hermitage Academy of Music he regularly gives international master classes in conducting. Appears at many prestigious music festivals in Russia and abroad.