Siberian Symphony Orchestra Artistic director and chief conductor  Dmitry Vasiliev has received rave reviews as a dynamic and versatile conductor both in Russia and abroad. He has conducted over than 800 concerts. In March 2003  Maxim Shostakovich  wrote, “ Dmitry Vasiliev is a talented and perceptive young conductor, with creative thinking, expressive gestures and a keen sense of rhythm. One of Maestro Vasiliev’s  principal strengths is the ability to emotionally charge the orchestra musicians and the audience.”  

Born in 1972 in  Bolshoi Kamen on the shore of Japan Sea. Vasiliev graduated  from Rostov State Conservatory, then  pursued  post-graduate  study  under the guidance of  Prof. Alexander  Skulsky in Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory. He  participated  in master classes with  Maestros  Alexandr Vedernikov and  Vladimir Ziva in Moscow.   

Vasiliev’s career started blossoming in 1997 when he became a founding artistic director of the Tambov Symphony Orchestra, 482 km south-east  of  Moscow. Between 1997 and  2005, he toured with the Tambov Orchestra in France and  performed at several international festivals, including  the Rachmaninov International Piano Competition.

In 2002 Dmitry Vasiliev  received a grant of the Russian Federation President.

From  2003 to 2005,  Maestro Vasiliev served  as  Principal guest chief conductor of  the  Sochi Symphony Orchestra, Sochi. (city of  the  XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014).

Since 2005, he has been working as the  artistic director and chief conductor of  the Siberian Symphony Orchestra.

Vasiliev has guest conducted with many leading  Russian orchestras in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Rostov, Saratov and other cities. He has also guest conducted in  Italy, France, Korea, China and Poland.

In 2003 he was awarded with a Diploma of the  IV  International Prokofiev Competition  in St. Petersburg. The same year he recorded a CD for ANTES EDITION of Concerto No.2 for piano and orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford  with the Rostov Philharmonic Orchestra.

Dmitry Vasiliev has collaborated with artist such as  Pierre Amoyale, Alexandr Brussilovsky, Hibla  Gerzmava, Valery Grokhovsky, Daniel Kramer,  Oleg Krysa,  Misha Maysky, Denis Matsuev, Vladimir Matorin, Julian Milkis, Nikolai Petrov, Vadim Repin, Alexandr Vedernikov,  Eliso Virsaladze, Frederic Kempf, Sayaka Shodji, Daniil Trifonov,  Marc-Andre Hamelin.

Vasiliev is an enthusiastic proponent of new music, especially by Russian composers. He has conducted the SSO in the premieres of compositions by  Mikhail Bronner, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ilya Heifets,  Efrem Podgaits,  Tolib Shakhidy, Alemdar Karamanov, Philip Spratley, Mechislav Weinberg, Alexander Tchaikovsky  and Vladimir  Tikhomirov. He has also introduced Russia to the music of other countries’ music, presenting the Russian premieres of works by  Charles Villiers Stanford, Karl Jenkins, John Adams and Eduard  Tubin.

As artistic director, Maestro  Vasiliev headed International Rachmaninov Festival (2001, 2002), Tambov’s Musicians Festival (1999, 2000, 2001, Tambov,Russia) Musical Province Festival (2002), New Music  Festival (2008, 2010, 2012, Omsk, Russia). “Jam-session”- annual jazz-project, “Symphonic Cinema” annual multi-media project (video illustration of pieces being performed by orchestra), “Ringtone Party”- symphonic show for mobile phones and orchestra, competitions for young musicians “Soloist of the Orchestra” (biennially since 2008); the World and European Ballroom Dancing championships that took a  place in Omsk (2008, 2009) and many others.

Awards presented to Vasiliev include the XVI Grand Prix International de l'Accordeon Award (1994, Andrezieux-Boutheon, France), and First Prize in the 1st Competition for conductors of Russian folk Orchestras (1997, Tambov, Russia). He was also granted a Diploma in symphonic conducting section of the IV International Prokofiev Competition in Saint-Petersburg in 2003.

In June, 2009  Siberian Symphony Orchestra was honored to participate  at the Fourth  Festival  of World’s Symphony orchestras in Moscow under Maestro Vasiliev’s direction.

In April of  2010 Vasiliev and the SSO  participated at the Symphonic Forum in Yekaterinburg, Russia, performing  the world premiere of  the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Tolib Shakhidi with clarinetist  Igor Fiodorov.

In April  2011 The SSO celebrated  the  reopening of its renovated Concert Hall. Dmitry Vasiliev presided over the opening concerts, where the SSO performed Beethoven’s overture “The Consecration of the House”, Lizst’s  Les Préludes, Mosolov’s  Zavod (Factory) and Prokofiev’s  Alexandr Nevsky. UK-critic Martin Anderson  wrote : “I know  Alexandr Nevsky  backwards – but I had never heard it performed by Russians in Russian, and I was pinned back in my seat. I hadn’t heard of  maestro Vasiliev before my invitation to Omsk, but he is plainly a conductor who deserves to be known far further”.

Dmitry Vasiliev has a number of CD records on Toccata classics, ArtBeat, Antes edition. In June of 2014 the first recording of Weinberg's 21st Symphony and Polish tunes was awarded "Album of the Week" by Norman Lebrecht.  He wrote in Sinfini Music: "The Siberian Symphony Orchestra, conductor Dmitry Vasilyev, play as if their lives depend on it".