Yury Gamaley? Who is he? - You ask. Really, what do we know about this person - the brilliant personality, the orchestra conductor, the pedagogue, the musician who donated 50 years of his creativity to the Mariinsky theatre - the pride of Saint-Petersburg's musical culture!

Yury Gamaley's life and career are worthy of emulation. He appeared for the first time on the stage of the "Mariinka" at the age of 12 as a member of "The Nutcracker's" children's choir. And since 1953 he has been a conductor of this theatre. Nowadays, at the age of 80, he still continues to delight audiences with the mastery of his art, his love of music, the music of the highest culture.

An outstanding pedagogue as well as a conductor, Maestro Gamaley teaches at the Saint -Petersburg Conservatory, conveying enthusiasm and years of experience to his students.

He's young at heart, always fashionably dressed in a suit with a beret perched artistically on his head.

Yury Gamaley is a man with a lot of emotional energy. When he is speaking about music his face lights up: his eyes shine, his facial expressions become animated; in other words, we find ourselves in the presence of one actor, portraying the roles of Carmen, Tatiana, Boris Godunov, The Queen of Spades, and many other opera characters.

His passion for opera is equal to love of ballet; with the wave of his hands and the baton the music of such masterpieces of world ballet as "Swan Lake", "The Nutcracker", "Raymonda", "Cinderella", "Don Quiote", "Sleeping Beauty" are enlivened.

Yury Gamaley represents a historic epoch: went through the Second World War during which he was conducting a military orchestra and went to the front to play "Katyusha". In the theatre he worked with such famous artists as Lemeshev, Lisician, Atlantov, Bogacheva, Rusimatov etc.

Today he intently follows the life of his native Mariinsky theatre. He attempts to convey to the young generation all the best he accumulated during 68 years of his creativity.

Yury Gamaley is full of strength and desire to work for the glory of the music and theatre with the intention of preserving the high level of St. Petersburg's culture.

// megart.spb.ru