Born in Moscow on January 11, 1964, Alexander Vedernikov was a Russian conductor best remembered as the former music director at the Bolshoi Theater (2001-2009) and the Odense Symphony Orchestra (2009-2018). His musical journey began at the Moscow Conservatory, where he graduated in 1988. He became a conductor at the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theater between 1988 to 1990. He also served as the assistant conductor to Vladimir Fedoseyev at the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio from 1988 until 1995. His recordings included Prince Igor (1996), Piano Concertos in the Netherlands (1997), Russian Ballet Suites (2004), and Young America (2004). Vedernikov became the Bolshoi Theatre’s music director in 2001, where he conducted Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov, for the first time since 1948, as well as others. operas and ballets, including the 2004 premiere of The Children of Rosenthal, composed by Leonid Desyatnikov. After disagreements with Bolshoi Theatre management in 2009, he resigned from his post. He collaborated with the Covent Garden Opera in London, the Paris Opera (2005-2011), the Zurich Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York (2011) and the BBC Orchestra (2013). He was appointed director of the Odense Symphony Orchestra (Denmark) until 2014, then took charge of the Royal Danish Opera in 2018. In 2019, he also became director and conductor at the Michel Theater in Saint Petersburg. Alexander Vedernikov died of Covid-19 On October 29, 2020 at the age of 56.
