Bierdiajew, Walerian

views updated

Bierdiajew, Walerian

Bierdiajew, Walerian, Polish conductor; b. Grodno, March 7, 1885; d. Warsaw, Nov. 28, 1956. He studied composition with Reger and conducting with Nikisch at the Leipzig Cons. He began his conducting career in Dresden in 1906; in 1908 he became regular conductor at the Maryinsky Opera Theater in St. Petersburg; then conducted in various Russian opera houses; from 1921 to 1925 he lived in Poland; from 1925 to 1930 he was again engaged as a conductor in Russia. In 1930 he was appointed prof. of conducting at the Warsaw Cons., and from 1947 to 1949 he was conductor of the Kraków Phil. He then taught at the Poznán Cons. (1949–54) and at the Warsaw Cons. (1954–56); also was director of the Warsaw Opera (1954–56).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

More From encyclopedia.com