Valery Gergiev “has become, since the deaths of Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, the most talked-about maestro on the planet. Known also as ‘the hardest working man in music,’ Gergiev would have his hands full just being artistic director of the Kirov or Mariinsky Theatre, with its 2,000 employees, including an opera company, a ballet company and a giant orchestra. But when he is not in St. Petersburg, he can often be found in New York, at The Met, where he has been principal guest conductor since 1997 (a new three-year contract is about to be signed), or in Rotterdam, where he has been principal conductor of the Philharmonic since 1995, or at one of several festivals he organizes annually.”