Vasily Petrenko was born in 1976 and started his music education at the St Petersburg Capella Boys Music School – the oldest music school in Russia. He then studied at the St Petersburg Conservatoire and has also participated in masterclasses with such major figures as Ilya Musin, Mariss Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Following considerable success in a number of international conducting competitions including the Fourth Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St Petersburg (2003), First Prize in the Shostakovich Choral Conducting Competition in St Petersburg (1997) and First Prize in the Sixth Cadaques International Conducting Competition in Spain, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the St Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2007. He served as Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain from 2009-2013
The 2013/14 season marks his first as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, alongside which he maintains his positions as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (a position he adopted in 2009 as a continuation of his period as Principal Conductor which commenced in 2006), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre (formerly the Mussorgsky Memorial Theatre of the St Petersburg State Opera and Ballet) where he began his career as Resident Conductor from 1994 to 1997.
In recent seasons, Petrenko has made numerous critically acclaimed debuts with major orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Russian National Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, NHK Symphony Tokyo, Sydney Symphony and Accademia di Santa Cecilia.
He has made frequent appearances at the BBC Proms, and toured with the European Union Youth Orchestra. Recent years have seen a series of highly successful North American debuts, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and St Louis Symphony Orchestras. Highlights of the 2013/14 season and beyond include return visits to the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Finnish Radio Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony, tour periods in Europe and Asia with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic and Russian National Orchestra, and his debut performances with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne.