Dmitry Liss

Dmitry Liss is an absolutely magical conductor. The audience was magnetised by his baton. La Liberté

Interpretational depth, clever dramaturgy and an infallible creative drive are what characterise Dmitry Liss as a conductor. Born in Balashov, he studied violin, clarinet and musicology before beginning his conducting studies under Dmitri Kitajenko at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, whose assistant he later became. At the age of 31, he took over as Chief Conductor of the Kuzbass Symphony Orchestra, and was Associate Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra from 1999 to 2003. From the 2016/17 season onwards, the South Netherlands Philharmonic has appointed Dmitry Liss its first chief conductor.

Dmitry Liss has been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra (UPO) since 1995. He has made the UPO, founded in 1936, into a leading and creative symphony orchestra. Based in Yekaterinburg, on the border between Europe and Asia, it is a major cultural force in the Sverdlovsk region as well as a cultural ambassador on the international stage. Together with the orchestra, Dmitry Liss has been invited to such venues as the Kennedy Center Washington, Bunka-Kaikan Tokyo, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, KKL Lucerne, Salle Pleyel Paris and Tonhalle Zurich, as well as to festivals including the Beethovenfest Bonn, Festival International de Piano de la Roque d’Anthéron and Radio France’s Montpellier Festival, and has received repeat invitations to La Folle Journée in France, Spain and Japan.

As a guest conductor, Dmitry Liss has performed with renowned international orchestras including the Orchestre National de France, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow. The Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, one of the leading Italian orchestras has already invited him back for two concert projects in the 2015/16 season.

Dmitry Liss is highly regarded by many renowned soloists such as the pianist Boris Berezovsky, with whom he has recorded all four piano concertos by Sergei Rachmaninov and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 for Mirare, and piano concertos by Khachaturian and Tchaikovsky for Warner Classics. Dmitry Liss’ extensive discography comprises, with recordings of Galina Ustvolskaya and Nikolai Miaskovsky’s symphonies, also lesser-known Russian repertoire, which he also includes in his concert programmes. Dmitry Liss has been honoured with many Russian and international awards, most notably with the honorary title of People’s Artist of Russia (2011), the country’s most prestigious award for achievements in the arts.