Michail Jurowski is born in Moscow in 1945, he is the son of the composer Wladimir Jurowski and grandson of the conductor David Block. His sons Vladimir and Dmitri are also internationally renowned conductors. Michail Jurowski grew up in the circle of internationally acclaimed artists of the former Soviet Union such as Ojstrach, Rostropovitch, Kogan, Gilels, and Chatchaturjan. Dmitri Shostakovich was a close family friend and he and Michail not only spoke often but would also play four-hand piano pieces together. (25/12 1945 – 19/3 2022)
Michail Jurowski Russian conductor 1945 – 2022 R.I.P.
Such experiences had a huge influence on the young musician and it is therefore no coincidence that today Michail Jurowski is one of the leading interpreters of Shostakovich’s music. In 2012 Michail Jurowski was awarded the third International Shostakovich Prize by the Shostakovich Gohrisch Foundation.
Michail Jurowski was educated at the Moscow Conservatoire, where he studied conducting under Leo Ginsburg and music science under Alexei Kandinsky. During his studies he assisted Gennady Rozhdestvensky at the National Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra of Moscow. While still a resident in Russia he conducted the Music Theatre of Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko in Moscow and during his last years in the Soviet Union frequently conducted performances at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Born in Moscow in 1945, Michail Jurowski is the son of the composer Wladimir Jurowski and grandson of the conductor David Block. His sons Vladimir and Dmitri are also internationally renowned conductors. Michail Jurowski grew up in the circle of internationally acclaimed artists of the former Soviet Union such as Ojstrach, Rostropovitch, Kogan, Gilels, and Chatchaturjan. Dmitri Shostakovich was a close family friend and he and Michail not only spoke often but would also play four-hand piano pieces together.
Such experiences had a huge influence on the young musician and it is therefore no coincidence that today Michail Jurowski is one of the leading interpreters of Shostakovich’s music. In 2012 Michail Jurowski was awarded the third International Shostakovich Prize by the Shostakovich Gohrisch Foundation.
Michail Jurowski was educated at the Moscow Conservatoire, where he studied conducting under Leo Ginsburg and music science under Alexei Kandinsky. During his studies he assisted Gennady Rozhdestvensky at the National Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra of Moscow. While still a resident in Russia he conducted the Music Theatre of Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko in Moscow and during his last years in the Soviet Union frequently conducted performances at the Bolshoi Theatre.
From 1978 Michail Jurowski was regular guest conductor at the Komische Oper Berlin and in 1989 he left the USSR with his family and was offered a permanent post with the Dresden Semperoper. Other titled positions have included: General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra; Chief Conductor of Leipzig Opera; Chief Conductor of WDR Rundfunkorchester in Cologne; Principal Guest Conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria.
As a guest conductor Michail Jurowski has led the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Dresden Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porta Casa da Música, São Paulo Symphony and Stavanger Symphony orchestras among others. In addition he is Principle Guest Conductor of the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and works regularly with the Norrköping and Stavanger Symphony Orchestras.
Recent highlights have included his debuts with the London, Warsaw and St Petersburg philharmonic orchestras. He also conducted the Dresden Staatskapelle at the International Shostakovich Festival in Gohrisch, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Lübeck Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic’s New Year’s concerts, the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, the Norwegian Opera Orchestra and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, and a revival of the lauded Romeo and Juliet with the Zurich Opera.
The 15/16 Opera and Ballet season will see Michail return to the Bolshoi with Pique Dame, La Scala Milan with Cinderella, Zurich Opera with Romeo and Juliet and Malmö Opera conducting Eugene Onegin. He will also return to conduct the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Stavanger, Nörrkoping and Aalborg.
Besides televised concerts and radio recordings in Stuttgart, Cologne, Dresden, Oslo, Norrköping, Hannover and Berlin, Maestro Jurowski has recorded with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and has conducted various CD recordings; including film music, Shostakovich’s opera The Gamblers, Shostakovich’s entire vocal symphonic pieces, Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Christmas Eve, as well as orchestral pieces by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Reznicek, Meyerbeer, Lehár, Kálmán, Nicolai, Rangström, Pettersen-Berger, Grieg, Svensen, Kantcheli and many others.
In 1992 and 1996 Jurowski won the German Record Critics’ Prize and in 2001 he received a Grammy nomination for 3 CD productions of Orchestral Music by Rimsky-Korsakov with the RSB Orchestra.
NORRKÖPINGS SYMFONIORKESTER
Vi har nåtts av den sorgliga nyheten att Michail Jurowski gått bort lördagen den 19 mars 2022.
Till minne av Michail Jurowski (25/12 1945 – 19/3 2022)
Michail Jurowski föddes i en musikalisk familj och växte upp tillsammans med eliten inom det dåvarande sovjetiska musiklivet: Mstislav Rostropovitj, Leonid Kogan, Emil Gilels osv. Dmitrij Sjostakovitj var en nära vän till familjen och den unge Michail inte bara träffade honom regelbundet – de spelade också fyrhändigt piano tillsammans. Att Jurowski utvecklade en särskild förståelse för Sjostakovitjs musik är alltså inte svårt att förstå, men alla som mött honom kan vittna om hans imponerande djupa kunskap om och kärlek till all musik han dirigerade. Själv tyckte han inte det var något märkvärdigt – ”allt handlar om att studera musiken på djupet” – men det ledde allt som oftast till oförglömliga framföranden. Samtidigt var han en ambassadör för ny musik och ledde många uruppföranden. Även svensk musik låg honom varmt om hjärtat och med Norrköpings symfoniorkester spelade han in flertalet symfonier av Wilhelm Peterson-Berger och Ture Rangström på skiva.
Michail Jurowskis tyckte sig uppleva en särskild själsgemenskap med Norrköpings Symfoniorkester. Hans sista konsert med orkestern ägde rum hösten 2020, exakt 25 år efter hans debut med orkestern. Under hela denna tid var han en regelbundet återkommande gästdirigent. Han kunde som få andra locka fram det allra bästa från musikerna och hans konserter drog alltid extra mycket publik. Trots att han aldrig hade någon formell titel hos SON är det knappast någon dirigent under de här 25 åren som haft större betydelse för orkesterns konstnärliga nivå än Michail Jurowski.
Vid sin sida hade Michail Jurowski alltid sin fru Eleonora, som med partituret i hand följde alla repetitioner och stöttade med allt praktiskt, något som blev särskilt viktigt under senare år när åldern började ta ut sin rätt. Våra tankar går till henne och övriga familjen.
Henrik Marmén, konstnärlig chef för SON
