Anna Rakitina – Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra 2019-2022, Gustavo Dudamel fellow of Los Angeles Philharmonic 2019/20, second-prize winner of Malko Competition 2018. Anna Rakitina has been assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under its Music Director Andris Nelsons since 2019 and is only the second woman conductor to hold the position in the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s history. In addition to her responsibilities in Boston, Rakitina was named 2019/20 Dudamel Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and worked actively on the orchestra’s youth, education and community projects such as Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) with the Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel. Anna Rakitina made her subscription series debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 2020/21 season followed by her Tanglewood Festival debut to great acclaim. She is returning to the BSO subscription series in 2021/22 and 2022/23. Other highlights of the 2021/22 season include debuts with Orchestre National de Lille, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming 2022/23 season will see her appear with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony orchestra and Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias amongst others. In the past she has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Lucerne Festival Strings, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Sinfonieorchester Biel Solothurn, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Jenaer Philharmonie, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, Meininger Hofkapelle, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Das Kritische Orchester, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern College of Music Chamber Orchestra and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. Born in Moscow to an Ukrainian father and a Russian mother, she grew up in a musical family and began her education as a violinist and soprano before she turned to conducting at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and studied with Prof. Stanislav Diachenko (assistant of Prof. Gennadiy Rozhdestvensky). From 2016 to 2018, she studied conducting with Prof. Ulrich Windfuhr at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Germany and graduated with a diploma. During her studies she conducted stage performances of Eugene Onegin, Iolanta, Aleko and The Rape of Lucretia. She wrote her PhD thesis on Rachmaninov. As a participant of the Lucerne Festival Academy Conducting Fellowship she took part in the masterclass with Alan Gilbert in 2016 and with Bernard Haitink in 2017. She participated in masterclasses by Gennadiy Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Jurowski and Johannes Schlaefli. In 2018 she was finalist of Das kritische Orchester in Berlin and a fellow of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. Together with fellow conductor Sergei Akimov, she founded the Moscow-based Affrettando Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble that is renowned for its high artistic level and innovative programmes.