CONDUCTOR
Mark Kadin’s performances are described as "an enchanting dialogue between the mind and emotions" (Decrescendo), "...not just a concert, but a transformative experience" (El Universal).
As a conductor of deep expertise and refined musicality, he is particularly celebrated for his prowess in the Eastern European and Scandinavian symphonic traditions, and for his interpretations of contemporary works and rarely heard music. In the 2024/25 season, he performs masterpieces by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Gershwin, Milhaud, Tchaikovsky, and Rimsky Korsakov as well as Mozart's Requiem and Orff's Carmina Burana and gives the world premiere performance of a new work by Mexican composer José Francisco Vásquez.
Ukrainian-born Mark Kadin is the Music Director of the Querétaro Philharmonic since 2023, an orchestra with great tradition in Mexico now in its 33rd season. Previously, Mark was Chief Conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra (2017 – 2023), where he solidified the orchestra’s status as one of the nation’s most enduring and innovative, and reinvigorated its Bulgarian presence through regular touring programs. He attracted considerable attention outside the country with broadcasts on Deutschlandradio, BBC, Swedish and Danish Radio, Portuguese National and Spanish National Radio and Musiq 3 (Belgium). He earned critical acclaim for bold and adventurous programming and numerous recordings, including works by composers of the Russian and Bulgarian Avant Garde. The first and only international artist to receive the Great Award of the Bulgarian National Radio for creative contribution to the development of the BNR Symphony, Mark has also been honored with the National Award Crystal Lyra for achievements in the Bulgarian performing art.
He was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Lithuanian National Musical Theatre, Resident Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra and the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and Music Director of the Krasnoyarsk State Symphony Orchestra (2004-2014), where he was responsible for the success and growth of the orchestra. In addition to conducting 40 symphonic programs every season, he led the orchestra on three Asian tours, established Summer Academy for young musicians from various cities of the Siberian region and a groundbreaking Summer Open Air Festival in Krasnoyarsk which were attended by tens of thousands of spectators.
With an enormous repertoire embracing classical, romantic, and contemporary music, Mark has conducted in places such as the Kölner Philharmonie, Rudolfinum Prague, Seoul Arts Center, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Munich Herkulessaal and has guest-conducted orchestras such as the Filharmonia Artur Rubinstein, Russian Philharmonic and Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony, Pilsen Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Città di Roma, Sofia Philharmonic, Sweden’s Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic, Queensland Symphony in Australia, National Symphony Orchestras of Costa Rica, Philippines and Vietnam, Daejeon and Gyeonggi Philharmonic in Korea, Parana Symphony in Brazil, Istanbul and Ankara Symphony Orchestras, among others. Soloists with whom he has collaborated include Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Repin, Kristof Barati, Simon Trpčeski, Alexander Rudin, Mikhail Pletnev, Alexander Knyazev, Nikolay Lugansky, Alena Baeva, Konstantin Emelyanov, Lucas Geniushas, Rafael Aguirre, Andrey Gugnin, Ilya Gringolts, Johan Dalene, Andrei Ioniță and many others.
He has also excelled in the field of opera and ballet since making his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2003 with the premiere of Vladimir Nikolaev's ballet The Gold of the Narts that won the National Golden Mask Award. This was followed by invitations to various projects. He collaborated with the Russian National Ballet Theatre for several years, including touring in Europe and South Korea (the ballets Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake). He made his mark in opera, having conducted titles such as ‘Eugene Onegin’, ‘Iolanta’, ‘Aleko’, ‘Sister Angelica’, ‘Gianni Schicchi’, ‘Carmen’, ‘La Traviata’, ‘Falstaff’, ‘The Barber of Seville’, ‘La Cenerentola’, ‘Guillaume Tell’ and others. He maintained close connections with many of the world’s leading opera singers including Dmitry Khvorostovsky, Sumi Jo, Hibla Gerzmava, regularly working with them in orchestral galas.
Mark Kadin was born in Ukraine and started his musical life in Kharkiv. He studied conducting at the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow 1987-1993. While still a student he began his conducting career in 1990 in the Moscow Ensemble of Contemporary Music and the Youth State Symphony Orchestra “Young Russia”. As Assistant conductor he worked with Mstislav Rostropovich, Kent Nagano, Valery Gergiev, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Evgeny Svetlanov, Alexander Lazarev and Paavo Berglund.