Vitali Alekseenok

Vitali Alekseenok
Born (1991-01-04) 4 January 1991 (age 33)
Vileyka, Belarus
OccupationConductor
StyleClassical music
WebsiteOfficial website

Vitali Alekseenok (Belarusian: Віталь Алексяёнак; born 4 January 1991) is a Belarusian conductor and musician. Artistic director of the Kharkiv Music Fest[1] and since the 2022/23 season Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf, Germany.[2]

Biography

Alekseenok was born in Vileyka, Minsk region, Belarus.[3]

In 2016 Alekseenok graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory (Prof. Alexander Alexeev), then moved to Germany and completed his master's degree at the Weimar School of Music[4] (Prof. Nicolás Pasquet, Gunter Kahlert and Ekhart Wycik). During his studies he took part in various master classes, in particular by Bernard Haitink, Fabio Luisi among others.[5]

In 2021 he won the Arturo Toscanini Conducting Competition in Parma.[6][7][8] In addition to the first prize, he also received the Audience Award and the prize for the best performance of a Verdi opera.

In June 2021, Alekseenok became artistic director of the Ukrainian Kharkiv Music Festival,[9] which organizes concerts in bomb shelters, subways and hospitals in Kharkiv during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[10]

As an opera conductor he has collaborated with the Teatro alla Scala (Milan), the Bavarian State Opera (Munich), the National Opera of Ukraine (Kyiv), the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona), the Teatro Massimo Bellini (Catania) and others.[11] He has conducted orchestras such as the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma and the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, among others. Alekseenok also led the first Ukrainian performance[12] of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the National Opera of Ukraine in autumn 2021 and conducted a production of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni in Severodonetsk in 2018 as part of the project "Music Overcomes Walls"[13][14][15]

Social engagement

In addition to Alekseenok's occupation as a conductor, he is also a writer. In 2021 his book Die weißen Tage von Minsk: Unser Traum von einem freien Belarus[16] was published by S. Fischer Verlag, as well as many articles and essays for Der Tagesspiegel,[17] Neue Rundschau,[18] Religion & Gesellschaft Zürich,[19] among others.

He has given lectures at Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich)[20] and Humboldt University (Berlin).[21] Alekseenok has also created numerous educational projects in Western and Eastern Europe and led youth orchestras in Germany, Italy, Poland and Ukraine.

References

  1. ^ "Kharkiv Music Fest". kharkivmusicfest.com. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  2. ^ "Ensemble & Employees Deutsche Oper am Rhein". Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  3. ^ Alekseenok, Vitali (2021). Die weißen Tage von Minsk: Unser Traum von einem freien Belarus. S. Fischer Verlag. p. 177. ISBN 978-3-10397-098-2.
  4. ^ "Weimarer HfM-Studenten doppelt erfolgreich". Thüringer Allgemeine. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  5. ^ Alekseenok, Vitali. "Biography". Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  6. ^ "Vitali Alekseenok Wins 11th International Arturo Toscanini Conducting Competition". The Violin Channel. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  7. ^ "Weimarer Dirigierstudent gewinnt Toscanini-Wettbewerb". Crescendo. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Parma Italian Capital of Culture 2020+21". Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  9. ^ "Artistic director of Kharkiv Music fest". Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  10. ^ "War in Ukraine: Musicians perform emotional concert in Kharkiv metro station". BBC News. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  11. ^ "The Little Prince". Accademia Teatro alla Scala. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  12. ^ "Upcoming shows.Tristan und Isolde. Richard Wagner". National Opera of Ukraine. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  13. ^ Kazakova, Anna. "Biography". Reshape. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  14. ^ "'Don Giovanni' Premiers in Donbas". International Ukrainian TV channel FREEDOM. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  15. ^ Dornblüth, Gesine. "Kulturdialog in der Ostukraine. Don Giovanni in Sewerodonezk". Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  16. ^ Alekseenok, Vitali (2021). Die weißen Tage von Minsk: Unser Traum von einem freien Belarus. S. Fischer Verlag. p. 177. ISBN 978-3-10397-098-2.
  17. ^ Alekseenok, Vitali. "Demokratiebewegung in Belarus:Jetzt beginnt der Marathon". Tagesspiegel. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  18. ^ Alekseenok, Vitali (2022). Die blutige Verwandtschaft von drei Schwestern. Neue Rundschau 2022/2 Nachdenken über die Ukraine/Hrsg.: Balmes, Hans Jürgen/Roesler, Alexander. pp. 110–117. ISBN 978-3-10-809163-7.
  19. ^ Alekseenok, Vitali (2021). Zwischen Aktivismus und Repression: Kunstszene in Belarus. Religion und Gesellschaft in Ost und West (2021), 4–5/Hrsg.: Institut G2W. Ökumenisches Forum für Glauben, Religion und Gesellschaft in Ost und West. pp. 27–30. ISBN 101-4-84-765-6.
  20. ^ "Die Künste unter Druck". Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. 2 June 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  21. ^ "Lesung und Gepräch "Die weißen Tage von Minsk" mit Vitali Alekseenok". Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2023.