Shostakovich, Maxim
Shostakovich, Maxim
Shostakovich, Maxim, Russian conductor, son of Dmitri (Dmitrievich) Shostakovich and father of Dmitri Shostakovich; b. Leningrad, May 10, 1938. He studied piano at the Moscow Cons. with Yakov Flier, and conducting with Gauk and Rozhdestvensky. In 1963 he became asst. conductor of the Moscow Sym. Orch., and in 1966, of the U.S.S.R. State Orch., which he accompanied on its U.S. tour in 1969; then was its principal conductor from 1971 until he defected during the orch.’s tour of West Germany in 1981. He and his son then settled in the U.S. On Memorial Day 1981 he conducted the National Sym. Orch. of Washington, D.C., in a special concert on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol; subsequently appeared as a guest conductor throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East. He was principal conductor of the Hong Kong Phil. (1983–85), artistic director of the Hartford (Conn.) Sym. Orch. (1985–86), and music director of the New Orleans Sym. Orch. (1986–91). He has become best known for his obviously authentic interpretations of his father’s works.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire