Following a series of highly acclaimed appearances with orchestras such as Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 2021/22 season, Anna Rakitina established herself firmly as one of the most exciting and sought-after conductors of the new generation. Rakitina remains assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) under its Music Director Andris Nelsons until summer 2023. She is only the second woman in the orchestra’s history to hold this position and has since become a much-loved member of the BSO family.
The 2022/23 season sees Anna Rakitina’s much anticipated return to the Tanglewood Music Festival as well as to Boston’s Symphony Hall as part of Boston Symphony Orchestra’s subscription series. Further highlights of the season include her debuts with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Tonkünstler-Orchester at the Musikverein, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Nürnberger Symphoniker, NDR Radiophilharmonie (Hannover), Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Orquestra Sinfónica do Casa da Musica Porto.
Having most recently worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, Anna Rakitina previously worked with orchestras such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestre National de Lille, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonie`a, Staatsorchester Darmstadt, Sinfonieorchester Biel Solothurn, Jenaer Philharmonie, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife and State Academic Symphony Orchestra “Evgeny Svetlanov”.
Rakitina is second-prize winner of the Malko Competition 2018, and further won prizes at the ‘Deutscher Dirigentenpreis’ 2017 and TCO International Conducting Competition Taipei 2015. She was 2019/20 Dudamel Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted Los Angeles Philharmonic’s youth concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall as well as LA Phil’s education and community programs such as Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA).
Born in Moscow to a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother, Rakitina grew up in a musical family and began her education as a violinist before she studied conducting at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of Stanislav Diachenko. From 2016 to 2018 she studied conducting in Hamburg, Germany with Prof. Ulrich Windfuhr and graduated with a diploma. She was finalist of ‘Das kritische Orchester’ in Berlin in 2018, participated in the conducting fellowship scheme of the Lucerne Festival Academy led by Alan Gilbert and Bernard Haitink, and attended masterclasses with Gennadiy Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Jurowski and Johannes Schlaefli. In 2022 she participated in the Ammodo conducting masterclass of the Concertgebouworkest led by Fabio Luisi.