Conductor Michail Jurowski has Died, Aged 76

Moscow-born Michail Jurowski hailed from a family of musicians, himself a third-generation musician as the son of composer Wladimir Jurowski and grandson of conductor David Block. Following in their father's footsteps, Michail's two sons Vladimir and Dmitri also took to the podium.

Jurowski was fortunate to have grown up in an environment surrounded by acclaimed musicians, such as the revered Dimitri Shostakovich. According to his management IMG Artists, Shostakovich became a close family friend, speaking often with Michail and even playing four-hand piano pieces with him.

After leaving the USSR in 1989, Jurowski accepted a permanent position with the Dresden Semperoper. He would later go on to attain a string of titles, including General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra; Chief Conductor of Leipzig Opera and WDR Rundfunkorchester in Cologne; Principal Conductor of Deutsche Oper Berlin; Principal Guest Conductor of the Berlin Radio Symphony, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Sinfonia Iuventus, and Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria.

Additionally, Jurowski guest conducted several top orchestras such as the Cleveland, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Dresden Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Königlichen Kapelle Copenhagen, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porta Casa da Música, Norrkoping Symphony, and São Paulo Symphony, among others.

In 1992 and 1996, Jurowski was awarded the German Record Critics’ Prize as well as a Grammy nomination for 3 CD productions of Orchestral Music by Rimsky-Korsakov with the RSB Orchestra in 2001. In 2012, he was awarded the third International Shostakovich Prize by the Shostakovich Gohrisch Foundation. Recently, Jurowski was awarded the German Record Critics’ Prize again in 2017.

Our condolences to Mr. Jurowski's family, friends, and colleagues.