Mark Ermler

Mark Ermler, a Russian conductor born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on 5 May 1932, belongs to the Soviet and post-Soviet musical tradition that made a strong impact in the West during the second half of the twentieth century. He trained at the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied conducting with Boris Khaikin.

His career began in 1952 with his debut at the head of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. A year later he conducted his first opera in the same city, Mozart's Die Entführung. In 1955 he joined the staff of the Bolshoi Theatre, where in 1964 he took on his first ballets, The Firebird and Petrushka. He toured extensively with that company, and his British debut came in 1974 with the Bolshoi Ballet at the London Coliseum. In 1986 he made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Carmen. As a guest conductor he has performed throughout Europe, North America and Japan.

His repertoire is broad, but his interpretations of Russian opera and ballet, reflected in his recordings with the Bolshoi and in his notable series of Tchaikovsky ballets with the Covent Garden Orchestra, are the most highly regarded. He has recorded more than twenty operas and orchestral works by Liszt, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and other composers.