Hailed by critics as ‘a name to remember’ thanks to his ‘astonishing precision, highly expressive gestures and warmth’, the prominent Estonian conductor Mihhail Gerts has made a name for himself following recent successful debuts with the Orchestre Nazionale delĺ Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, BBC Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, with the acclaimed baritone Matthias Goerne as soloist. Since 2021, Mihhail the Artistic Director of the TubIN Festival in Estonia, initiated to promote the outstanding symphonic music of the Estonian composer Eduard Tubin.

In 2023/24 season, Gerts looks forward to returning to the Odense Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland in Dublin, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, and the Gulbenkian Orchestra in addition to debus with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Belgrade Philharmonic, George Enescu Philharmonic, and the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra.

Further highlights of Mihhail’s guest conducting appearances include the Staatskapelle Dresden, Helsinki Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Danish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Orchestre national de Belgique, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra.

In addition to his symphonic concert career, Gerts has also gained extensive operatic experience as First Kapellmeister and deputy GMD of the Hagen Theater (2015 to 2017) and permanent conductor of the Estonian National Opera (2007 to 2014). During these years, he conducted over forty different productions of opera and ballet, most recently a new production of ‘The Flying Dutchman’. As a guest conductor in opera, he has appeared at the Teatro la Fenice, Teatro delle Muse, Mikhailovsky Theater St. Petersburg, Belarus National Opera, and many others.

Gerts studied conducting at the Estonian Academy of Music and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin where in 2011 he was awarded PhD. From 2013 to 2017, he was a Stipendiate of the Dirigentenforum Programme of the German Music Council, and in 2014 was a finalist in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Donatella Flick Competition and Evgeny Svetlanov Conducting Competition.