Anna SKRYLEVA - russian conductor, has lived and worked in Germany for the past 15 years. Currently engaged as principal resident conductor at The State Theatre Darmstadt.

MOSCOW - BERLIN…

Born in Moscow in 1975 the musician Anna Skryleva, daughter of an ice-skater and a gymnast, she started piano lessons at the age of five. When she was 8 she composed her first piano pieces. At the age of 10 she attended a composition class at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatorium in Moscow. She studied at the Central Music School for highly talented children, whose most famous students include Genady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Nikolai Lugansky. In 1999 Skryleva successfully finished her studies as a concert pianist at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatorium in Moscow. She has performed as a concert pianist and a chamber musician throughout Russia, many parts of Europe and Mexico.

In August 1999 she moved to the University of Arts in Berlin to intensify her knowledge of German music of the Classical and Romantic periods.The rich cultural life in Berlin brought the young musician Skryleva many interesting contacts, that had a big influence on her musical visions: regular attendance at the rehearsals of Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin; intensive music studies in classes by Prof. David Geringass ( at the Hans Eisler Music College ) and Wilfried Strehle ( Solo-Viola player of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra ).

TO CONDUCTOR’S BATON…

Anna Skryleva’s career as a conductor started in 2002 in Karlsruhe, where she was engaged at the Music College as music assistant of the conductor Alicja Mounk, a student of Michael Gielen and Nadja Boulanger, in the field of music theatre.

Since 2003 the young conductor has been working at opera houses in Germany. She learnt her conducting technique in Dusseldorf from Prof. Lutz Herbig. 2003 she was engaged as music assistant at the Festival “Cervantino” in Mexico for a production of Wolfgang’s Rihm’s opera “The conquest of Mexico”. In the same year she was the initiator and director of the international festival “Art without boundaries” during “German-Russian Cultural Encounters” in Berlin.

Other engagements followed - Moscow, Bulgaria, 2004 - 2007 at the Opera Cologne, as music assistant of Jeffrey Tate and GMD Markus Stenz of the revivals of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle.

For five years ( 2007 - 2012 ) Anna Skryleva was engaged at the State Opera Hamburg: during this intensive period Skryleva was music assistant of the Hamburg Intendant and GMD Simone Young, including for her new production of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, at such great revivals as “Parsifal”, “The Flying Dutchman”, “Elektra” and “Salome” and at numerous concerts with Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2009 she shared the conductor stand with Young at the Silvester - performance of “The Merry Widow”. She conducted repertoire performances with Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. Klaus Florian Vogt, Anja Harteros, Matti Salminen are some of the well-know artists, with whom Skryleva has worked.

During her engagement at the Hamburg State Opera, the conductor acquired a wide opera repertoire reaching from Italian Belcanto to German Romanticism, music of the 20th Century and modern music.

KAPELLMEISTER…

During the season 2012 - 2013 Anna Skryleva was Principal Resident Conductor and Vice General Music Director at the State Theatre Schleswig - Holstein in Flensburg. Here she conducted with great success C. M. von Weber’s “Der Freischütz”, Puccini’s “La Bohéme”, concerts for the season opening and the new productions of Loew’s “My Fair Lady”, Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”, Weill’s “The Rise and Fall of the town Mahagonny” and Prokofiev’s “Cinderella”, which received very positive resonance from both the public and the press. In January 2013 Anna Skryleva presented with big success an experimental programme “Maskerade” at the 4th Symphony Concert ( with works by Stravinsky, Britten, Shchedrin, Bolcolm, Arnold etc. ).

After her successfully conducting the “Salome” of R. Strauss in june 2013 at the State Theatre Darmstadt, Anna Skryleva became in Darmstadt the Principal Resident Conductor and Vice GMD. The first season she began with successful debuts: Symphony concert with works by Messiaen, Poulenc and Berlioz; her New Years Concert 2014 was celebrated with standing ovations. In this concert she presented with self-conceived programme in which she arranged lighting and technical effects together with music. In the season 2013 / 2014 she conducted the new production of Verdi’s “Otello”, the revival of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” in the State Theatre Wiesbaden and repertoire performances of Verdi’s “La Traviata”, Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” and Puccini’s “Il Trittico”.

The cultural department of Main Echo named Anna Skryleva Person of the Year 2013.

PEDAGOGIC DEDICATION…

2006 and 2008 together with KS Dieter Schweikard she organized the International Singers Academy in Wels ( Austria ). 2010 and 2011 she conducted two opera productions with young singers from the International Opera Studio of the State Opera Hamburg. ( G. Holst “Savitri”, B. Martinu “ Comedy on the bridge” ). She made opera productions with Youth and University Orchestras: 2007 - Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” for children with the State Youth Orchestra of NRW; 2012 - Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg. Workshops - recently at the University of Art in Bremen. ( “Singing in russian” )

PEACE INITIATIVE…

In march 2014 the versatile musician established a peace initiative CLASSIC FOR PEACE, which is under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Science in Hessen. With this initiative the russian musician, who now has been living in Europe, wants to motivate all the musicians in the world to realize multicultural projects together, that will lead to international understanding between nations.