Igor I. Blazhkov

Was born in 1936 in Kiev. Graduated from the conducting faculty of the Kiev Tchaikovsky State Conservatory (1959, class of A. I. Klimov), postgraduate studies at the Leningrad Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory (1967, class of E. A. Mravinsky). Laureate of the Republican Conducting Competition (Kiev, 1959). Conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (1958–1968), conductor of the Leningrad Shostakovich Philharmonic (1963–1968), artistic director and conductor of the Kiev chamber orchestra (1969–1976), conductor of the Ukrkontsert (1977–1988), artistic director and chief conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (1988–1994), artistic director and Conductor of the «Perpetuum Mobile» Orchestra of the Ukraine Composers Union (1983–2002). In 1990 Igor I. Blazhkov was awarded the title «People’s Artist of Ukraine» for his «services in the development and promotion of musical art, high professional skills». Since 2002 he has been living in Germany. Has toured in Poland, Germany, Spain, France, Switzerland, USA and Japan; recorded more than 40 gramophone records, and subsequently CDs for Wergo (Germany), Olympia Records (Great Britain), Denon (Japan) and Analekta (Canada). The conductor specializes in the latest repertoire and also performs early music. He is a President of the International Society of Andrey Volkonsky. The correspondence of Igor I. Blazhkov with the major musicians of the second half of the twentieth century — Igor Stravinsky, Maria Yudina, Benjamin Britten, Pierre Boulez, Luigi Dallapiccola, Edgard Varèse and many others — was published by the conductor in the three-volume «Book of Letters» (Kompositor • Saint Petersburg, 2020).