Kirill Petrenko

As of 2019/20 Kirill Petrenko takes over the post as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. He was born in Omsk, Siberia, and studied piano at the school of music there. He appeared in public as a pianist for the first time at the age of eleven with the symphony orchestra in Omsk. In 1990 he moved with his family to Vorarlberg, Austria, where his father accepted a position as an orchestral musician and music teacher. Petrenko continued his studies in Feldkirch, then studied conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. His first engagement took him to the Wiener Volksoper immediately after graduation. From 1999 to 2002 Kirill Petrenko was general music director at the Theater Meiningen, where he attracted international attention for the first time in 2001 with