Born in 1946.
Bayan soloist, conductor of folk‑instrument orchestras, teacher, Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation, and laureate of the «Coupe Mondiale» International Bayan and Accordion Competition (USA, New York, 1969, gold medal).
In 1964 he graduated from the N. A. Rimsky‑Korsakov Krasnodar Music College (bayan class of M. S. Kozlenko), in 1969 he graduated with distinction from the Gnesin State Music and Pedagogical Institute (bayan class of A. A. Surkov), and in 1973 he completed an assistant‑traineeship there under A. A. Surkov.
Since 1969 he has worked with the N. P. Osipov State Academic Russian Folk Orchestra, initially as repetiteur and soloist and, from 1978, as conductor. In 1989 he founded and took charge of the Russian Popular Music Orchestra «Mastera Rossii». From 1992 to 2016 he was Principal Conductor of the Moscow State Academic Dance Theatre «Gzhel».
He currently directs the Russian Folk Orchestra of the Moscow State Folklore Cultural Centre led by People’s Artist of Russia L. Ryumina.
He has toured in the USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, and other countries, and has frequently served on juries at all‑Russian, all‑Union, and international competitions.
Alongside his performing career he has taught at Moscow’s leading arts institutions: from 1970 to 1974 at the Gnesin Institute (bayan class), from 1988 to 1992 at GITIS (A. V. Lunacharsky) as music director and conductor of the musical‑theatre acting course, from 1993 to 2002 at the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts (orchestral class), and from 2002 to 2007 at the Gnesin Academy (orchestral class). He designed and taught a course on the history of music for the Russian Folk Orchestra at the A. G. Schnittke Moscow State Institute of Music.
Since 2016 he has taught in the Department of National Instruments of the Peoples of Russia at the Gnesin Academy and has served as Principal Conductor of the Russian Popular Music Orchestra «Mastera Rossii».
Over his years with professional ensembles more than fifty new works for bayan and Russian folk orchestra have been premiered. Valery K. Petrov has conducted numerous musical stage productions (operas, operettas, and musicals). For over twenty years he wrote and hosted radio series on folk music for All‑Union Radio, and prepared two anthologies of folk‑instrumental music for the Melodiya record label, one of which received the Grand Prix of the Charles Cros French Academy of Recording.
As a bayanist and conductor he has recorded more than forty LPs and CDs, published dozens of repertoire collections for bayan, chamber ensembles, and Russian folk orchestras, and produced many arrangements and orchestrations for Russian folk orchestra. From 1993 to 2014 he co‑edited the journal «Narodnik», devoted to folk‑instrumental art.
Selected publications:
- V. K. Petrov, «Russkiye narodnyye naigryshi», Moscow, Muzyka, 1985, 96 pp.;
- V. K. Petrov (with O. Budankov and M. Vakhutinsky), «Prakticheskiy kurs igry na russkikh narodnykh, dukhovykh i udarnykh instrumentakh», Moscow, Muzyka, 1991, 192 pp.;
- V. K. Petrov, «Anatoliy Surkov», biographical essay in the collection «Portrety bayanistov», Moscow, Gnesin Academy Press, 2001, pp. 62–87;
- V. K. Petrov, «Russkoye professional’noye narodno‑instrumental’noye iskusstvo. Uroki veka», in Podgotovka spetsialistov v sphere kultury i iskusstv, Moscow State University of Culture and Arts, 2000;
- V. K. Petrov, «Ot razmyshleniy – k slovu, ot slov – k delu», in Sokhraneniye natsional’nykh traditsiy v narodno‑instrumental’nom iskusstve: problemy i perspektivy, conference proceedings, Gnesin Academy, Moscow, 2017, pp. 15–19;
- V. K. Petrov, «Ot russkoy garmoni – k bayanu: vozmozhno i nuzhno li povtoreniye proydennogo?», in the proceedings of the 3rd All‑Russian Conference «Sokhraneniye natsional’nykh traditsiy v narodno‑instrumental’nom iskusstve: problemy i perspektivy», Gnesin Academy, Moscow, 2019, pp. 24–28.
Articles, dialogues, and reviews:
- «Dialog o bayane» (with Yury Kazakov), Sovetskaya muzyka, 1988, no. 1, pp. 66–69;
- «Ne zabyvat’ korney svoikh», Muzykal’naya zhizn’, 1990, no. 13, pp. 2–3;
- «Chudesny rozhok», Melodiya, 1985, no. 1, p. 31; and «Dvazhdy rozhdennaya», Melodiya, 1985, no. 3, pp. 48–49;
- the series «Muzyka narodnykh traditsiy», reviews in Melodiya, 1987–1990 (issues 3–4 of 1987, 1–2 and 4 of 1988, 1–4 of 1989, and 1–4 of 1990);
- «Srazu vidno – garmonist…», on Arkhangelsk musician Sergei Privalov, Krugozor, 1987, no. 1, p. 4;
- numerous dialogue features and articles in the journal «Narodnik» (1993–2013), including conversations with Alexander Tsygankov, Nikolai Chaykin, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Mikhail Rozhkov, Yuri Shishakov, Alexander Shirokov, Vladimir Belyaev, Boris Tarasov, and tributes to Boris Troyanovsky, Sergei Smetanin, L. V. Priss, and others;
- «Fuga ili naigrysh?», «I nachinat’ nado s detstva», and «Ne slozhish’ pesnyu ponaslyshke…», published in the newspaper Sovetskaya kultura (1984–1986).
