Svetlanov was born in
Moscow and studied conducting with
Alexander Gauk at the
Moscow Conservatory. From 1955 he conducted at the
Bolshoi Theatre, being appointed principal conductor there in 1962. From 1965 he was principal conductor of the
USSR State Symphony Orchestra (now the Russian State Symphony Orchestra). In 1979 he was appointed principal guest conductor of the
London Symphony Orchestra. Svetlanov was also music director of the
Residentie Orchestra (
The Hague) from 1992 to 2000 and the
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1997 to 1999. In 2000 Svetlanov was fired from his post with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra by the minister of culture of Russia,
Mikhail Shvydkoy. The reason given was that Svetlanov was spending too much time conducting abroad and not enough time in Moscow. Svetlanov was particularly noted for his interpretations of Russian works – he covered the whole range of Russian music, from
Mikhail Glinka to the present day. He was also one of the few Russian conductors to conduct the entire symphonic output of
Gustav Mahler. His own compositions included a String Quartet (1948), Daugava, Symphonic Poem (1952), Siberian Fantasy for Orchestra, Op. 9 (1953), ''Images d'Espagne
, Rhapsody for orchestra (1954), Symphony (1956), Festive Poem (1966), Russian Variations
for harp and orchestra (1975), Piano Concerto in c minor (1976) and Poem for Violin and Orchestra "To the Memory of David Oistrakh" (1975). He composed Siberian Fantasy'' in 1953/54, in collaboration with Igor Yakushenko [1932-1999]. Svetlanov was also an extremely competent pianist, three notable recordings being
Sergei Rachmaninoff's
Piano Trio No. 2 in D minor and
Cello Sonata op. 19, and a disc of
Nikolai Medtner's piano music. Warner Music France has issued an "Édition officielle Yevgeny Svetlanov" featuring Svetlanov's legacy of recordings as conductor and pianist, which by July 2008 had run to 35 volumes of CDs, often multiple-CD boxed sets. The biggest of these is the 16-CD box of the complete symphonies of
Nikolai Myaskovsky, to whose music Svetlanov was devoted. ==Legacy==