Career leap into the "Big Five"

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HfMT graduate becomes new assistant conductor of one of the world's best symphony orchestras

Anna Rakitina, concert exam alumna from the conducting class of Prof. Ulrich Windfuhrbecame only the second woman in the orchestra's history to be appointed Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its music director Andris Nelsons has been appointed.

"I am very happy to become part of such a wonderful musical ensemble," said Rakitina. She feels honored and is looking forward to working with Music Director Andris Nelsons and the orchestra musicians. Rakitina will make her first appearance with the BSO during the Tanglewood Festival in summer 2020.

In addition to her commitments in Boston, she is a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Music Director Gustavo Dudamel for the 2019/20 season and in this position will conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic Youth Concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall and be involved in the orchestra's education and outreach programs, including Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA).

Anna Rakitina won second prize at the Malko Competition in Copenhagen in 2018 as well as prizes at the German Conducting Award in Cologne in 2017 and the TCO International Conducting Competition in Taipei in 2015. She has already conducted numerous renowned orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra di Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Lucerne Festival Strings, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Bucharest George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

In the 2019/20 season, in addition to her engagements in Boston and Los Angeles, Anna Rakitina will make her debut with the Orchestre National d'Île de France, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, the Sinfonieorchester Biel Solothurn in Switzerland and the Jenaer Philharmonie, among others.

Anna Rakitina was born in Moscow, obtained two diplomas in conducting and musicology at the Moscow Conservatory and completed her additional conducting studies at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama in 2018. She took part in master classes with Alan Gilbert and Bernard Haitink in Lucerne and received further inspiration from Gennadiy Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Jurowski and Johannes Schlaefli. During her studies, she conducted opera performances including "Eugene Onegin" and "Iolanta" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, "Aleko" by Sergei Rachmaninov and "The Rape of Lucretia" by Benjamin Britten.
Together with conductor Sergei Akimov, Anna Rakitina founded the Moscow chamber orchestra "Affretando", an ensemble that has made a name for itself in Russia with its high artistic standard and interesting programs.