Igor Verbitsky

Born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia, Igor Verbitsky studied choir conducting under professor E. Kudrjavtseva and opera and symphony conducting under professor R. Martynov at famous Leningrad Conservatory named after N. Rimsky-Korsakov. As an excellent student in 1991 he was chosen to be sent to Germany for one year training under professors H.-D. Resch and J. Starek at the Frankfurt-am-Main High Musical School. He was graduated from Leningrad Conservatoire with the highest honor in choir conducting in 1989, operatic and symphonic conducting in 1995.

Since 1992 he has been Associated Conductor of the Voronezh Philharmonic Orchestra, Russia. With this orchestra he performed various symphonic works from Viennese Classics to Bartok, Stravinsky and Richard Strauss. He has led the orchestra in many prestige musical festivals: the Rachmaninov Festival in Tambov, the Tchaikovsky Festival in Izhevsk and Votkinsk, the Voronezh Summer Festival and others. Among soloists he successfully performed with are internationally acclaimed N. Petrov, M Kasrashvili, Z. Sotkilava, T. Alikhanov, Yu. Stadler, A. Melnikov, S. Slovachevsky, G. Murzha, P. Laul, I. Urjash and others.

Extremely active as a guest conductor of the symphonic classics as well as musicals, Igor Verbitsky had a number of successful concerts with the Moscow Radio and Television Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra; the Symphony Orchestra of High School for Music (Frankfurt am Main) and the Thuringia Symphony Orchestra in Germany. Maestro Verbitsky has recently made more appearances with the philharmonic orchestras in Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Yalta, Sevastopol, Sympheropol, Samara, Kislovodsk and others.

In 1995 he led the Voronezh Philharmonic Orchestra to their Germany tour where their performance of the of the oratorio "To the unknown God" by contemporary Swiss composer A. Jenny with the Berlin Commune "Lindenkirche" church Choir in the city of Berlin and in the city of Dresden received great critical acclaim. Their concerts of Russian and German classic music had also great success.

In 1996 Maestro Igor Verbitsky was appointed Chief Conductor and Musical Adviser of the St. Petersburg Musical Comedy Theatre. Above performing of the main repertoire he led world premiere of opera "Kalif the Stork" by the Russian composer Olga Petrova.

Since 1997 he has also been teaching at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. Some of his students were invited to be leading soloists of the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre. During this period conducting a revival of Betrothal in Cloister (Duenna) by S. Prokofiev and ballet Les Sylphides by F. Chopin/A. Glazunov at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire Opera Theatre.

In 1999 Igor Verbitsky's conducting Five Pieces for String Orchestra by A. Webern was marked as "the event of the musical life of the city of Voronezh" by the press.

Maestro Verbitsky's 2002-2006 seasons includes, aside from his work at the Musical Comedy Theatre and with the Voronezh Philharmonic, performances in Moscow Concert Hall named after P. Tchaikovsky, Great Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg and other projects with classical and modern repertoire. Having a strong and constant links with the famous contemporary composers, Igor Verbitsky has a rare opportunity to create his personal view on a musical background and bring this outstanding world to the audience.