Conductor. Considered by many the greatest Russian conductor of the Soviet era. As music director of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) from 1938 until his death, Mravinsky strengthened its position among the world's finest classical ensembles. He was noted for his dynamic interpretations of Russian music, especially that of his friend Dmitri Shostakovich. Yevgeny Alexandrovich Mravinsky was born in St. Petersburg into a family of artists. He studied at the Leningrad Conservatory from 1924 to 1930 and became assistant conductor of the Maryinsky Opera Theatre in 1931. That same year he debuted with the Leningrad Philharmonic as a guest conductor. On November 21, 1937, the obscure musician stepped into the spotlight leading the LPO in the premiere of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5. This was at the height of Stalin's murderous political purges; Shostakovich had been branded an "enemy of the people" by the Soviet government and a failure could have sealed the fates of both composer and conductor. Under Mravinsky's heroic direction the work received a 40-minute standing ovation and was immediately hailed as a classic. The following year he won first prize in the USSR's All-Union Conducting Competition and was appointed the Leningrad Philharmonic's music director. He became Shostakovich's favorite interpreter and was entrusted with the first performances of the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Twelfth Symphonies, as well as the Violin Concerto No. 1 (with soloist David Oistrakh); the Eighth Symphony was dedicated to him. He also premiered Prokofiev's great Symphony No. 6 (1947). During World War II Mravinsky and the ensemble were evacuated to safety in Siberia, where they played over 500 concerts and 200 radio broadcasts, and after 1946 they made frequent tours of the Soviet Union. A commanding figure of almost military bearing on the podium, he willed what he wanted from his players with an intimidating glower and an economical baton technique. His style was hard-driving and virile, romantic without being cloying, and supremely sensitive to the slightest nuances of the score. Topping his repertory (after Shostakovich) were Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, the "Mighty Five" Russians, Mozart, Beethoven, and the German Romantic school. Although he had the gifts and charisma to become an international superstar in the Classical Music scene, Mravinsky preferred to stay close to his homeland and to his orchestra. He refused most guest conducting offers, never visited the United States, and rarely took the LPO to Europe (they did tour Japan in 1973). He also stopped making studio recordings in 1961, though dozens of his live concerts were captured on record and video through the mid-1980s.