Born in St Petersburg in 1976, Petrenko is recognised as one of the exceptional musicians of his generation. He started his music education at the St Petersburg Capella Boys Music School – the oldest music school in Russia. He then studied at the St Petersburg Conservatoire. Between 1994 and 1997, while still in his teens, he was Resident Conductor at the St Petersburg State Opera and Ballet Theatre in the Mussorgsky Memorial Theatre, during which time he gained an enormous amount of operatic experience and now has over 30 operas in his repertoire.

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