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In a live-streamed news conference from Berlin today, it was announced that the next Chief Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, succeeding Sir Simon Rattle, will be Kirill Petrenko.

Kirill Petrenko built his reputation as a conductor in the opera house. His first formal appointment was as General Music Director of the Meiningen theatre (with his most notable achievement there being the staging of Wagner’s Ring cycle in 2001). From there he moved to the Komische Oper in Berlin, where he served as General Music Director from 2002 to 2007. Several seasons as a guest conductor followed, including performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Petrenko was in the pit for Frank Castorf’s controversial production of Wagner’s Ring at Bayreuth in Wagner’s bicentennial year. In 2013 Petrenko became the General Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper.