Valery Kritskov, conductor of the Novaya Opera Theatre, graduated from the Moscow Institute of Culture with a degree in opera and orchestra conducting (Professor Tikhonov’s class) in 1988. He worked for the Helikon-Opera Theatre of Moscow for a long time before joining the Novaya Opera Theatre in 2002.

In the Novaya Opera Theatre he conducts Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden and The Tsar’s Bride, Rubinstein’s The Demon, Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans and The Queen of Spades, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Valdgardt's The Cat's House, Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, Verdi’s Nabucco, Wagner's Lohengrin, Strauss' Die Fledermaus, as well as ballets: Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella, Carmen-Suite by Bizet&Shchedrin, Minkus’ Don Quixote, Khatchaturyan’s Spartacus, Gounod’s Walpurgis Night, Delibes's Coppélia (joint productions with the Kasatkina and Vasilöv State Academic Classical Ballet Theatre and with the Imperial Russian Ballet). Valery Kritskov has produced and conducted the Voice of a Woman (consisting of three monodramas: Vitaly Gubarenko’s Tenderness, Antonio Spadavecchia ‘s Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Mikael Tariverdiev’s Waiting) and Strauss’ Capriccio.

He has also conducted numerous concert programmes including the “Bravissimo!” opera mix, the dramatized performance “This is Opera!”, Ten Sopranos of the Novaya Opera (October 2013), Mezzo-Sopranos at the Novaya Opera (February 2014), “To Beautiful Ladies!”, a gala concert dedicated to International Women’s Day (March 2014 and 2015).

Valery Kritskov has participated in the recording of the “Chorus of the Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow” and “Soloists of the Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow” CDs.