V. P. Ziva is a graduate of two of Russia’s oldest conservatories: the Leningrad Conservatory (class of Professor Ye. P. Kudryavtseva) and the Moscow Conservatory (class of Professor D. G. Kitaenko).
From 1984 to 1987 he served as assistant to the Principal Conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra.
From 1986 to 1989 he taught in the Orchestral Faculty of the Moscow Conservatory.
From 1988 to 2000 he was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra.
From 1990 to 1992 he was Principal Conductor of the M. P. Mussorgsky State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in St Petersburg (Maly Opera Theatre / Malygot).
From 1997 to 2010 he was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra; from 2002 to 2010 Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Krasnodar Musical Theatre; and from 2006 to 2010 Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Jutland Symphony Orchestra in Denmark.
Since September 2011 V. Ziva has headed the Opera and Symphonic Conducting Department at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music.
At the invitation of Sviatoslav Richter, he conducted several opera and music‑theatre productions at the «December Evenings» Arts Festival: Britten’s operas «Albert Herring» and «The Turn of the Screw» (director Boris Pokrovsky, designer Boris Messerer), Tchaikovsky’s «The Snow Maiden» (with actors of the Sovremennik Theatre, director L. Tolmacheva), Bach’s Cantata No. 202 «The Contest between Phoebus and Pan» (with students of the Moscow Conservatory), and the «Magnificat» (with the V. Popov Boys’ Choir).
He has collaborated with the Moscow Chamber Musical Theatre as conductor, pianist, and répétiteur. Together with Boris Pokrovsky he staged Kholminov’s opera «The Brothers Karamazov», and in the chamber theatres of Vienna, Moscow, and Turin he conducted Alfred Schnittke’s opera «Life with an Idiot».
In 1998, at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich‑Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, he served as Music Director and conductor of Massenet’s opera «Thaïs» (director Boris Pokrovsky, designer Valery Levental).
At the Mussorgsky Opera and Ballet Theatre in St Petersburg he conducted new productions of Borodin’s «Prince Igor» and Landowski’s «The Madman» (director S. Gaudassinsky).
At the A. S. Pushkin Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre he was conductor of the production of Prokofiev’s ballet «Cinderella».
At the Krasnodar Musical Theatre he conducted productions of Bizet’s «Carmen», Tchaikovsky’s «Iolanta» and «The Queen of Spades», Verdi’s «La Traviata», Mascagni’s «Cavalleria rusticana», Leoncavallo’s «Pagliacci», Rachmaninov’s «Aleko», and others, with directors A. Stepanyuk, R. Viktuk, V. Milkov, K. Streshnev, and O. Ivanova.
Over a thirty‑year career he has given more than one thousand concerts in Russia and abroad, featuring over four hundred soloists, many of whom enjoy international renown. Among them are pianists Grigory Sokolov, Eliso Virsaladze, Vadim Viardo, Dmitri Bashkirov, Mikhail Voskresensky, Vera Gornostaeva, Vladimir Krainev, Nikolai Petrov, Alexander Diev, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Andrei Gavrilov or Andrei Gindin, Denis Matsuev; violinists Gidon Kremer, Viktor Tretyakov, Vadim Repin, Irina Bochkova, Igor Oistrakh, Mikhail Fedotov, Sergei Stadler, Ilya Gringolts, Ilya Grubert, Liana Isakadze, Sergei Krylov, Nikita Borisoglebsky, Alena Baeva; cellists Mstislav Rostropovich, Mischa Maisky, Natalia Gutman, Steven Isserlis, Alexander Knyazev, Alexander Rudin; violists Yuri Bashmet, Michael Kugel, Alexander Ludevig; and singers Irina Arkhipova, Irina Bogacheva, Montserrat Caballé, Alexander Vedernikov, José Carreras or Hose Cura (depending on casting).
His repertoire comprises more than 800 symphonic works in all genres of classical and contemporary music, and he has conducted the world or Russian premieres of over seventy works by Russian and foreign composers.
V. Ziva has worked with more than thirty Russian and twenty foreign orchestras. He has toured in major cities throughout Russia and in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Cuba, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Netherlands, Turkey, Taiwan, Portugal, the USA, France, Norway, and Japan.
He has appeared in many of the world’s leading concert halls, including Lincoln Center (New York), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Gewandhaus (Leipzig), Schauspielhaus (Berlin), Symphony Hall (Osaka), Suntory Hall and Bunka Kaikan (Tokyo), the Auditorio Nacional (Madrid), the Théâtre des Champs‑Élysées (Paris), the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, and the Grand Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonic.
He has made recordings on three LPs and thirty CDs. In 2010 a CD of French music released by Danacord, featuring V. Ziva and the Jutland Symphony Orchestra with soloist O. Marshev, was named «Recording of the Year» by Danish Radio.
