Graduated from the Central Secondary Special Music School at the Moscow State Conservatory.
Vasily Valitov
In 1995, Vasily Valitov graduated from the Central Secondary Special Music School at the Moscow State Conservatory. In 2000, he graduated from the P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory with a degree in oboe performance; in 2002, he completed postgraduate studies; and in 2005, he completed the opera and symphonic conducting programme under Professor Leonid Nikolaev. He trained with the renowned conductors Fuat Mansurov, People’s Artist of Russia and conductor of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, and Wolfgang Scheidt, Herbert von Karajan’s assistant in Vienna.
Awards
- Certificate of Merit of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, 2008
- Honorary title Honoured Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan, 2015
- Commendation from the Minister of the Government of Moscow and Head of the Moscow City Department of Culture, 2019
- Certificate of Merit of the Governor of the Yaroslavl Region, 2025
Education
Graduated from the P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory with a degree in oboe performance.
Completed postgraduate studies.
Completed the opera and symphonic conducting programme under Professor Leonid Nikolaev.
In 2004, he began his artistic career as the head of the L. V. Nikolaev Youth Symphony Orchestra of Russia at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. During eighteen years leading the orchestra, Vasily Valitov, with the support of the Russian Peace Foundation and personally Leonid Slutsky, gave more than 200 concerts in Russia and abroad. The orchestra toured successfully in Qatar in 2004 and in France in 2006, 2008 and 2012.
In 2004, Vasily Valitov initiated the cultural and social project Music of Children’s Hearts with the support of the Moscow City Department of Culture and the Russian Peace Foundation. In 2013, he initiated the Fuat Mansurov Music Festival for Young People from CIS countries, Talents of the Commonwealth, supported by the Plenipotentiary Representation of the Republic of Tatarstan and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan Ravil Akhmetshin.
From 2008 to 2010, he was Principal Conductor of the Astrakhan State Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Since 2010, Vasily Valitov has been a conductor of the E. V. Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow. He continues to work with the theatre as a guest conductor.
At the theatre, he has conducted productions including Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Lohengrin, Puccini’s La Bohème and others.
His repertoire includes more than 30 operas.
Since 2014, he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Mahler Philharmonic Orchestra and a board member of the Mahler Philharmonic Society in Vienna; Permanent Guest Conductor of the Seto Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan; and a guest conductor of the Moscow State Academic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pavel Kogan, the State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Musa Jalil Tatar Academic State Opera and Ballet Theatre.
From 2016 to 2019, he led the festival project Youth Symphony Orchestra of the CIS, following in the footsteps of outstanding Russian musicians Fuat Mansurov, Yuri Simonov and Vladimir Spivakov, who had conducted the ensemble in previous years.
In 2016, he founded the international performing arts company Voice of Music in Russia and Austria, the Russian-Austrian Summer Music School in Bregenz, Austria, and became Artistic Director of the Vienna–Moscow Music Academy project with the active support of the ambassadors of both countries.
In September 2017, he made his conducting debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in a series of performances of Verdi’s Rigoletto.
From 2018, Vasily Valitov was a guest conductor of the Hamamatsu Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan; in 2019, the orchestra appointed him Principal Guest Conductor for a three-year term.
At different times, Vasily Valitov has collaborated successfully with symphony orchestras in Spain, France and Ecuador.
In 2022, he made his debut with the Webern Sinfonietta, the symphony orchestra of the Vienna Academy of Music, at the renowned Erbar Hall. In recent years, he has repeatedly performed with the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra of Vienna in the celebrated Golden Hall of the Musikverein.
Since 2018, he has taught opera and symphonic conducting at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory.
In 2023, at the invitation of opera singer and professor Lyubov Kazarnovskaya, he took part as a conductor in the Young Opera of Yaroslavl national opera academy. During the concert tour, the Yaroslavl Academic Governor’s Symphony Orchestra under Vasily Valitov performed in Uglich, Kostroma and Yaroslavl.
Since 2024, Vasily Valitov has been Principal Conductor of the Yaroslavl Academic Governor’s Symphony Orchestra. His appointment has brought important changes to the orchestra’s artistic life, from performing the most demanding symphonic repertoire to implementing unique projects of national and international significance.
At Vasily Valitov’s initiative, the large-scale national educational project Voice of Music: Academy of Young Conductors was launched, bringing together young conductors who are university students. Under Maestro Valitov’s direction, the orchestra performs at Moscow’s leading venues, including Zaryadye Concert Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, the Moscow Philharmonic and the Moscow International Performing Arts Centre; it also takes part in festivals such as Bridge of Arts: Russia–China, Moscow Autumn, the Kogan Festival and Denis Matsuev Presents: Dialogue of Generations.
Vasily Valitov organised the orchestra’s anniversary tour, during which the ensemble performed with great success at leading concert venues in Kazan, Saint Petersburg and Moscow.
Thanks to the maestro’s initiative and outstanding organisational abilities, the international Yaroslavl–Beijing–Moscow music project was held in 2025 to mark the 185th anniversary of P. I. Tchaikovsky. The artistic team, together with the F. Volkov Russian Academic Drama Theatre and the Yaroslavl Philharmonic, staged Eugene Onegin at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts; in autumn 2025, gala concerts featuring leading soloists of the Chinese opera theatre took place in Yaroslavl and Moscow.
At Vasily Valitov’s invitation, the orchestra performs with artists including People’s Artists of Russia Denis Matsuev and Yuri Rozum, pianists Zarina Shimanskaya, Vladimir Vishnevsky, Stanislav Korchagin, Dmitry Shishkin and Andrey Korobeinikov; Bolshoi Theatre soloist and Honoured Artist of Russia Agunda Kulaeva; Honoured Artist of Russia Rustem Shagimardanov; Alexey Tatarintsev, Alexey Tikhomirov, Andrey Rossik, Elena Tarosyan, Alexander Ramm, Andrey Tereshkov, Anna Savkina, Ivan Gynazov, Irina Moreva and many others.
The orchestra’s repertoire today encompasses a broad range of Russian and international composers. Vasily Valitov pays particular attention to programmes for children and young audiences.
Vasily Valitov gives special priority to joint projects with the Moscow State Conservatory and the L. V. Sobinov Yaroslavl Music College. These include Yaroslavl’s first Autumn Harp Festival, the Orchestra Academy internship for music college students, and the 2026 YAMusician television competition, through which talented young students from children’s arts schools in the Yaroslavl Region and music college students performed solo programmes with the Yaroslavl Academic Governor’s Symphony Orchestra.
Vasily Valitov also initiated the Young Stars for Yaroslavl project together with the Association of Tchaikovsky Competition Laureates. Violinist Stefania Pospikhina, saxophonist Mikhail Kazakov and pianist Ryota Matsuhashi have performed in Yaroslavl as part of the project.
In August 2026, on the initiative of Vasily Valitov, Principal Conductor of the Yaroslavl Academic Governor’s Symphony Orchestra, the Youth Chamber Orchestra of YAGSO soloists was established.
