Ignat Solzhenitsyn

Ignat Solzhenitsyn joined the orchestra as Assistant Conductor in 1994, was appointed Principal Conductor in 1997 and was named Music Director beginning with the 2004-2005 season.

Recognized as one of today's most gifted artists, and enjoying an active career as both conductor and pianist, Ignat Solzhenitsyn's lyrical and poignant interpretations have won him critical acclaim throughout the world.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn is in his fourth season as Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, having served as its Principal Conductor for the preceding six years. His recent guest soloists have included Sylvia McNair, Cho-Liang Lin, Steven Isserlis, Gary Graffman, Sergei Leiferkus, Anton Kuerti, and Leila Josefowicz. Mr. Solzhenitsyn has led the Orchestra in numerous special projects, including Bach's Saint John Passion and the complete Brandenburg Concerti, Haydn's The Creation and Seven Last Words and a rare complete performance of Gluck's Don Juan.

Mr. Solzhenitsyn has appeared as guest conductor with the symphonies of Dallas, Seattle, Indianapolis, Buffalo, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, and Nashville, as well as many of the major orchestras in Russia including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Moscow Symphony, the Urals Philharmonic, and the Kremlin Philharmonic. In recent seasons, his extensive touring schedule in the United States and Europe has included concerto performances with numerous major orchestras, including those of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, Los Angeles, Seattle, Baltimore, Washington, Montreal, Toronto, London, Paris, Naples, St. Petersburg, Israel, and Sydney, and collaborations with such distinguished conductors as André Previn, Herbert Blomstedt, Yuri Temirkanov, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gerard Schwarz, Charles Dutoit, James DePreist, Krzysztof Penderecki, David Zinman, Jerzy Semkov, James Conlon, Lawrence Foster and Maxim Shostakovich. In addition to his recital appearances in the United States at Philadelphia's Academy of Music, St. Paul's Ordway Theatre, San Francisco's Herbst Theatre, and many others from coast to coast, Mr. Solzhenitsyn has also given numerous recitals in Europe and the Far East in such major musical centers as London, Milan, Zurich, Moscow, Tokyo, and Sydney.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Solzhenitsyn has collaborated with the Emerson, Borodin, Brentano, St. Petersburg and Lydian String Quartets, and in four-hand recital with Mitsuko Uchida. He has frequently appeared at international festivals, including Salzburg, Evian, Ludwigsburg, Caramoor, Ojai, Marlboro, Nizhniy Novgorod and Moscow's famed December Evenings.

A winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ignat Solzhenitsyn serves on the piano faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. He has been featured on many radio and television specials, including CBS Sunday Morning and ABC's Nightline. Born in Moscow, Mr. Solzhenitsyn resides in the United States with his wife and two children.