Michail Jurowski

Michail Vladimirovich Jurowski (Russian: Михаил Владимирович Юровский, romanized: Mikhail Vladimirovich Yurovskiy; 25 December 1945 – 19 March 2022) was a Russian conductor who worked internationally, based in Germany for most of his career. He was particularly interested in the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, in concerts and recordings.

Jurowski grew up in a musical family, where his father Vladimir Mikhailovich Yurovsky was a composer, and many prominent Russian musicians were family friends. He first worked in Moscow, but was from 1978 a regular guest conductor at the Komische Oper Berlin, then in East Berlin. With a 1989 contract for the Staatsoper Dresden, he moved to Germany with his family. He was music director of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie from 1992, and the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock from 1999, followed by positions with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln. He worked as a guest worldwide, including Scandinavia and Argentina.

His recordings include the first recordings of Dmitri Shostakovich's unfinished opera The Gamblers after Nikolai Gogol, completed by Krzysztof Meyer in 1981, and of Anton Rubinstein's Moses. He was instrumental in founding the International Shostakovich Days in Gohrisch. His sons Vladimir and Dmitri are also conductors.