Valerian Berdyaev

Berdyaev, Valerian Valerianovich (1885–1956) – Russian and Polish conductor, chief conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic in the 1924–1925 season. Berdyaev worked in Russia in 1907–1921 and 1924–1930. He conducted at the Mariinsky Theatre, at the opera houses of Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Sverdlovsk and performed symphonic programs. In 1930 he finally moved to Poland. Berdyaev gave his first concert with the Philharmonic Orchestra in April 1924, and from the autumn of the same year he played with the orchestra as chief conductor. Holding this position for only one season, Berdyaev conducted 31 concerts. Among his partners on the stage of the Great Hall were József Szigeti, Vladimir Horowitz and soloists of the former Mariinsky Theatre, where Berdyaev worked for 14 years. At Berdyaev's last concert at the Philharmonic on April 29, 1925, Chopin's First Concerto with Nadezhda Golubovskaya, Tchaikovsky's "Manfred" and the premiere of "Lithuanian Rhapsody" by the Polish composer Mieczysław Karlowicz were performed.