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Michail Jurowski was born in Moscow in 1945, the son of the composer Vladimir 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 D. Ojstrach, M. Rostropovitch, L. Kogan, E. Gilels, and A. 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 Jurowski is one of the greatest interpreters of Shostakovich’s music. From 1978, Jurowski was regular guest conductor at the Komische Oper Berlin. 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 the Leipzig Opera and Chief Conductor of WDR Radio Symphony Orchestra in Cologne. He is currently the Principal Guest Conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, a position he has held since 2003.

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Michail Jurowski was born in Moscow in 1945, the son of the composer Vladimir 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 D. Ojstrach, M. Rostropovitch, L. Kogan, E. Gilels, and A. 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 Jurowski is one of the greatest interpreters of Shostakovich’s music.

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 Gennadi 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 Nemirovitch-Dantchenko in Moscow, and during his last years in the Soviet Union frequently conducted performances at the Bolshoi Theatre.

From 1978, Jurowski was regular guest conductor at the Komische Oper Berlin. 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 the Leipzig Opera and Chief Conductor of WDR Radio Symphony Orchestra in Cologne. He is currently the Principal Guest Conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, a position he has held since 2003.

As a guest conductor Michail Jurowski has led the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutche Oper Berlin, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the Stavanger Symphonic Orchestras and has worked with the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and in Bilbao, Sevilla, Valencia and Vienna among others. In addition he works with the Norrköpping Symphony Orchestra at least twice a year. Recent Opera and Ballet highlights have included Götterdämmerung in Dortmund, Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty at the Norske Opera in Oslo, Eugene Onegin at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliarias, as well as a new production of Respighi’s Marie Victoir and the revival of Un Ballo in Mascheraat the Deutsche Oper Berlin. His opera repertoire also includes Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Weber, Wagner, Smetana, R. Strauss and Britten, as well as Russian composers Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Upcoming engagements include performances of Glazunov’s Raymonda at La Scala in Italy in October and November (replicated from M. Petipa’s original production in St. Petersburg 1898), and Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Symphony and Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano concerto with the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra. These will be followed by a Stravinsky and Prokofiev programme with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in November, and a Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Glazunov programme with the Dresden Philharmonic in December 2011.

Besides televised concerts and radio recordings in Stuttgart, Cologne, Dresden, Oslo, Norrköping, Hannover and Berlin, Jurowski 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.

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Reviews

"...The baton drives with relentless accuracy... but the soul of the music is never forgotten. Jurowski epitomises the synthesis of precision and lyricism."

Benedikt Leßmann, Leipziger Volkszeitung

"Franz Schubert's long unfinished B minor symphony felt anything but incomplete in Jurowski’s twist. No sense of resistance from the orchestra, which became a pliable self-playing tool in the master's hands. Soft padding strings, woodwinds, kindness and heartfelt glow of the rich melodic material that the young Franz Schubert created. "

Siv Jogfors, Folkbladet

"All this absurdity falls into place meaningfully partly due to the wonderful stage direction, but also if it has any coherence and meaning for a modern audience, it’s down to Prokofiev’s playful, richly brilliant scoring. It’s impossible not to be fully drawn into the proceedings with so much to enjoy from moment to moment, particularly since the score was given a superb, vivacious performance by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the baton of Michail Jurowski. Whether you actually cared for the characters never mattered – they sang no wonderful arias to persuade you of their charm or depth of soul – but the singing and acting here were of a fine standard nonetheless to keep the audience enthralled, entertained and, in this production, educated even in the finer points of mid-eighteenth century Italian theatre."

Opera Journal.com

"The Russian master Michail Jurowski (father of Vladimir) returned to conduct an Orchestre de la Suisse Romande that was on dazzling form. Prokofiev’s harsh and corrosive instrumentation, culminating in the famous March and Scherzo of Act III, are perfectly executed by a phalanx whose brass section are infallible and whose strings play with a biting intensity. The Choir of the Grand-Théâtre, as usual, is worthy of the most lively praise. In short, a perfectly executed end of season!"

Emmanuel Andrieu, ClassiqueInfo.com

"Arguably the star of the evening was conductor Michail Jurowski. Never have I heard such fire in this score tempered by such nuance. Maestro Jurowski not only had all the angular, rhythmic flash and dazzle abundantly in place, but he also lovingly inspired contrasting moments of transparency, tenderness, and mellow rumination. This was as deeply felt, stylistically impeccable, personalized and persuasive a reading as you might be lucky enough to encounter once every ten years."

James Sohre, Opera Today

"Conducted with enthusiasm and generosity by Michail Jurowski… a precise and dynamic conductor who brings out all the mischief in the score and the abounding orchestration…"

Bruno Serrou, La Croix

"How could you not delight in an OSR so opulent, incisive and completely in its element in Prokofiev's abundant score, lead by Michail Jurowski, with a consummate art of contrast and shape?"

Sylvie Bonier, Tribune de Genève

"At the head of the Suisse Romande Orchestra, the Russian master Michail Jurowski excels in following the changeable inflexions of this deliciously capricious music. He meets the challenge of energizing the discourse throughout, at the same time as paying scrupulous attention to every detail of the score and watching attentively over sound equilibrium."

Christophe Imperiali, Le Courrier

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Discography