Mark Ermler 1932–2002

As much at home in opera as in ballet, Mark Ermler was an ideal exponent of the Bolshoi tradition of musical excellence. Through his conducting engagements, recordings and tours, he kept a unique slice of musical history alive for western listeners. During a busy career, he appeared as a guest conductor throughout Europe, North America and Japan and recorded over twenty operas and orchestral works, as well as a greatly admired series of Tchaikovsky ballets with the Covent Garden Orchestra.

Born in 1932 in Leningrad, Ermler attended the Conservatory there, studying conducting with Boris Khaikin. In 1952 he made his debut, with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, whilst still a student, and a year later, in the Conservatory’s opera theatre, conducted his first opera, Mozart’s Entführung.

Upon leaving the Conservatory, he joined the staff of the Bolshoi Opera as a trainee conductor, making his debut there in 1957 with Cavalleria rusticana. Three years later, he conducted the first staging of Prokofiev’s The story of a real man, and in 1964 his first ballets, The firebird and Petrushka.

Thereafter, he toured extensively with the Bolshoi, in 1974 reaching London with Giselle and Swan lake. His Covent Garden debut followed a decade later with Carmen. In 1996 he was appointed chief conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he also toured, but in 1998 he returned to the Bolshoi company as music director and oversaw its triumphant visit to London a year later. His final appointment was in 2000, as Musical Director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mark Ermler: born Leningrad, 5 May 1932; died Seoul, 14 April 2002.