Mikhail Agrest
Conductor
Mikhail Agrest was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia), where he received his early music training as a student of the music school affiliated with the Leningrad Conservatory. He came to the United States with his family in 1989 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in violin performance under Josef Gingold at the Indiana University School of Music.
In 1996 he returned to St. Petersburg for post-graduate studies in conducting with Ilya Musin and Mariss Jansons at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. In 2000 and 2001 he has been a fellow at the Aspen Festival's American Academy of Conducting under David Zinman.
From 1997 to 1999 he served as the assistant conductor of the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra "Klassika" and also conducted Le nozze di Figaro and Eugene Onegin in the State Opera Theater of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
In 2000/2001 conducted in concerts dedicated to the memory of I.A. Musin in the Mariinsky Theater and the Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
He has collaborated with the orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and given concerts with orchestras in Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Italy and the United States. In 2000 he became the Music Director of the PI Chamber Orchestra in South Carolina.
Since 2001 works in Mariinsky Theater, where he conducts "La Boheme", "Cosi fan tutte", "Cinderella" and "La Cleopatra".
In September 2001 he won the second prize in the A. Pedrotti International Conducting Competition in Italy.