BIOGRAPHY

Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra
Artistic Director of the EURASIA International Music Festival

Depth of interpretation, clever dramaturgy and an infallible creative drive are what characterize Dmitry Liss as a conductor.

Dmitry Liss has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra (UPO) since 1995. He has made the UPO, founded in 1936, into a leading, dynamic and creative symphony orchestra. Based in Ekaterinburg, 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 scene. Dmitry Liss has been invited to perform with the orchestra at the Carnegy Hall New York, Kennedy Center Washington, Bunka-Kaikan Tokyo, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, KKL Lucerne, Essen and Berlin Philharmonic, Victoria Hall Geneva, Brucknerhaus Linz, Vienna Konzerthaus and Tonhalle Zurich. He also has been a guest conductor at international festivals including the Beethovenfest Bonn, Bodensee Festival, Festival International de Piano de la Roque d’Anthéron, Radio France’s Montpellier Festival, Tiroler Festival Erl and has been regularly invited to La Folle Journée in France, Spain, Japan, and Russia.

From 2016 until 2021, Dmitry Liss was the first Principal Conductor of the South Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra (Philharmony Zuidnederland Orchestra). As a guest conductor, Dmitry Liss has performed with renowned international orchestras such as the Orchestre National de France, Philharmonique de Radio France, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, MDR Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, Dusseldorfer Symphoniker, Bochumer Symphoniker, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Naples Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra…

Dmitry Liss is highly regarded by many renowned soloists including Mikhail Pletnev, Boris Berezovsky, Sergey Krylov, Gidon Kremer, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Peter Zimmerman, Yuri Bashmet, Alexander Kniazev, Viktor Tretyakov, Shlomo Mintz, Gilles Apap, Akiko Suwanai, Natalia Gutman, Peter Donohoe, Cyprien Katsaris, Dmitri Bashkirov, Sol Gabetta, Fazil Say, Nikolai Lugansky, Arabella Steinbacher or Mstislav Rostropovich. Furthermore, he has recorded all four Rachmaninov piano concertos with Boris Berezovsky, as well as Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 for Mirare and the Khachaturian and Tchaikovsky piano concertos for Warner Classics. Dmitry Liss’ extensive discography includes recordings of symphonies by Galina Ustvolskaya and Nikolai Miaskovsky together with the lesser-known Russian repertoire, which he also enjoys including in his concert programmes.

Born in Balashov, he studied violin, clarinet, and musicology before beginning his conducting studies at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Dmitri Kitajenko, where he later became his assistant. 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. Dmitry Liss has won many Russian and international awards, most notably the honorary title of People’s Artist of Russia (2011), the country’s most prestigious award for achievements in the arts.

PRESS QUOTES

“Dmitri Liss let his wonderful orchestral soloists play and show their expertise, with the audience loving the first-class oboe, violin and trumpet soloists. The orchestra’s string section led the famous Ural sound, which under Mr. Liss’ baton was a great success.”
KULTURKOMPASSET.COM

“Liss had a modest demeanor, with a sensitive smile betraying a subtle yet irresistible charisma. (…) Then he brought the orchestra to a whirling crescendo practically from his seat. In the second half was Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony, which Liss filled with a long flowing breath.”
RP ONLINE

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