Pianist and conductor, born in Nizhni Novgorod (formerly Gorky), W Russia. He graduated from Moscow Conservatory (1960) and in 1962 was joint winner (with John Ogdon) of the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, Moscow. He left the Soviet Union in 1963 and made his London debut that year. He settled in Iceland in 1973 with his wife, an Icelandic pianist, and became musical director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London (1987–5), the Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin (1989–99), and chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (1998–2003), conductor laureate from 2003. In the 2004–5 season, he took up leadership of the Tokyo NHK Symphony Orchestra. He also holds the position of music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra, with whom he tours each season.