The young Russian conductor Anton Legkii has been Kapellmeister at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern since 2017/2018. This season, his outstanding musical direction of the new production of Handel’s “Alcina” impressed both the audience and the press.
As a stand-in, he also recently conducted the premiere of Zeller’s “Der Vogelhändler” and the ballet production “Kassandra” based on music by Schnittke, Ligeti, Glass, etc. in former years, he conducted 3 new productions each year, including “Orpheus in der Unterwelt” (J. Offenbach), “La Cenerentola” (G. Rossini), the ballet “Gisèlle”; “The Land of Smiles” (F. Lehár), “Otello”, ballet based on a collage of contemporary and baroque music, as well as the musical “Tell me on a Sunday” or “Mazepa” by P.I. Tchaikovsky. He also conducted Gounod’s “Faust” and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro”, Verdi’s “La Traviata” and “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss. In 2020/21 he conducted Lloyd Webber’s musical “Tell Me on a Sunday”.
For the 22/23 season, guest conducting engagements with the Søderjylland Symphony Orchestra are scheduled with works by Lalo and Rachmaninov. He had great success as a guest in a series of symphony concerts in Altenburg-Gera in 2020. Since 2015, Anton Legkii has been conducting regularly at the Ekaterinburg State Opera, including works such as “La Traviata”, “Carmen”, etc. He also conducts as a guest conductor at the Pilsen Opera House, works regularly as a guest répétiteur at the Prague State Opera, and has been guest conductor of the Tyumen Philharmonic Orchestra since 2017.
In 2016 Anton Legkii won 1st prize at the International Conducting Competition in Teplice (Czech Republic) and received the President’s Prize of the European Academy of Music.
From 2012-2014, the young conductor was Kapellmeister at the Omsk Opera House, where he conducted the world premiere of A. Smyonov’s opera “The Prisoner of Omsk” at the very beginning of his tenure. Afterwards he conducted 20 different works at this house, among others “Ruslan and Ludmilla” (M. Glinka), “The Nutcracker” (P.I. Tchaikovsky), “Carmen” (G. Bizet), and “La Belle Hélène” (J. Offenbach).
At the same time, he continued his studies at the Gnesin Academy with Prof. Soloviev in Moscow and was able to sit in with conductors such as G. Rozhdestvensky, V. Sinaisky, V. Gergiev, V. Spivanov and D. Kitayenko.
After graduating from high school, Anton Legkii studied choral, opera and orchestral conducting at the Ural State Conservatory with Prof. Groshikova and Prof. Kartashov, graduating in 2015.
To perfect his education, he also completed postgraduate studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Univ.Prof.Dr. Johannes Wildner in 2015-17.
During his studies, Anton Legkii regularly conducted various choirs (including the Ural State University Choir and the Choir of the Tchaikovsky Academy) and, at the age of 19, became principal conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Ural State Conservatory, which he conducted in Ekaterinburg and on tour with numerous programmes of various epochs and styles.
He completed primary and secondary school at a college specialising in music and choral singing and was considered a highly gifted pianist and singer. His special interest, however, was always in creating whole performances, which is why he decided to train as a choral conductor at the age of 14. One year later he was already entrusted with children’s and men’s choirs, and soon also with mixed choirs.
He received his first musical training at the age of five, when he was accepted into the boys’ choir of Ekaterinburg and began an intensive education there with piano lessons, solfeggio and choral singing. He soon became a member of the children’s choir of the Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre and also performed there as a soloist.
03/2022
