Graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory of Leningrad in 1974.

People’s Artist of Russia

Founder and artistic director of Zazerkale, a unique professional opera theatre for children. Over 40 of the productions in the theatre’s repertoire were directed by Alexander Petrov.

Teaches at RGISI since 1978. Teaches Directing and Acting, Acting and Director’s Seminar.

One can speak of the Petrov School of training actors for musical theatre in St. Petersburg. 1982 saw the inauguration of an Actor of Musical Theatre degree, and the course was headed by A. V. Petrov. Today he continues to teach students on the basis of the unique method he developed, the main element of which is non-verbal active intonation: performing Bach’s polyphony a capella naming the notes (solfeggio) and living through the vocal score and intonation as a dramatic story in which the relationships, characters and situations are understood without need for words. This method forms the basis of the psychophysiology of partner work in acting and of improvised communication onstage. Alexander Petrov’s pedagogical work has been so fruitful that many of his students now perform on the most important stages in St. Petersburg: Petrov’s own Zazerkale Theatre, Theatre of Musical Comedy, Mariinsky Theatre, Mikhailovsky Theatre. They also perform in popular musicals in Moscow in lead roles and work in celebrated theatres in Europe and America.

Director of over a hundred stage productions in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Warsaw (Poland), Sofia (Bulgaria), Tbilisi (Georgia), Baku (Azerbaijan), Minsk (Belarus), Odessa (Ukraine).

Laureate of the Golden Spotlight, St. Petersburg’s highest theatre award, and of the national Golden Mask award.

Member of the jury for the Golden Mask.