Principal Conductor of the Tchaikovsky Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
He has been the musical director of international festivals such as Diaghilev Seasons: Perm – Petersburg – Paris (2003–2011), Chaliapin Evenings in Ufa, and the Rudolf Nureyev International Festival of Classical Ballet in Kazan (1991–2001).<<cut>>
The conductor’s repertoire encompasses works from various periods and styles: from classical to contemporary, from widely-known compositions by Mozart and Shostakovich to rarely performed operas by Monteverdi and Georg von Albrecht. Platonov conducted the first Russian performances of Massenet’s operas Cléopâtre (2001) and Cendrillon, or the Tale of Cinderella (2007), Shchedrin’sLolita (2003), and Monteverdi’s Orfeo (2007). He also conducted the première of the ballet Medea(2009)to music by Ravel. These productions all featured at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Platonov has conducted the world premières of several operas (Khusain Akhmetov’s Nerkes[1994], Salavat Nizametdinov’s On a Night of a Lunar Eclipse [1996] and Memento [2000], Nikolay Sidelnikov’s Chertogon [2007], and Alexander Tchaikovsky’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich[2009]), and ballets (Igor Anufriev’s Cold Heart [1987], Yury Saulsky’s Senora from Valencia [1981], and Leyla Ismagilova’s Khodzha Nasreddin [1998]).
Platonov has conducted leading Russian orchestras: the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theatres. He has conducted orchestras from Germany, Ireland, the USA, Ukraine, and Belarus. He has worked with stars of the operatic stage such as Irina Arkhipova, Maria Bieşu, Vladimir Minin, Vladislav Piavko, Hibla Gerzmava, and Ildar Abdrazakov.
Valery Platonov was born in1953 inthe city of Beloretsk in the Republic of Bashkortostan. He graduated from the Ufa State Institute of Arts in 1977 (class of Mikhail Golubitsky) and from the Ural State Conservatory in 1987 (class of Mark Paverman). He began his career at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1981. From 1991 until 2001, he was Principal Conductor at the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 2001, he returned to work in Perm.