Formerly a violinist in the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Philharmonic Orchestra under Evgeny Mravinsky, Alexander Polianichko studied conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire with Prof. Iliya Musin. In December 1988, he was awarded first prize in the Sixth All-Union Conducting Competition. In February 1989, he was invited by Maestro V. Gergiev to join to the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre as a House Conductor. Alexander toured with the Company throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States.

In 1994, Polianichko made his London debut conducting English National Opera’s production of Eugene Onegin. This led to him conducting two productions of Tchaikovsky’s operas with the Royal Opera Covent Garden: a revival of Queen of Spades with Placido Domingo and a new production, The Tsarina’s Slippers, by Francesca Zambello of Cherevichki.

As a guest conductor, Polianichko has appeared at many renowned opera houses including: Bolshoi Theatre, Royal Opera House, La Scala, Deutsche Oper, San Francisco Opera, Australian Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Danish Royal Opera, Stuttgart Oper, Colorado Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Norwegian Royal Opera, and Swedish Royal Opera. In 1996, he was invited to take the Opéra National de Paris to New York for their appearances at the MET.

Polianichko has worked with leading orchestras around the world including: Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Radio Orchestra, English and Irish Chamber Orchestras, among many others.

From 1986 to 1989, Polianichko was the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Belorussian State Chamber Orchestra in Minsk. He also taught conducting in Belorussian and Leningrad State Conservatoires. From 1996 to 1999, he was the Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. From 2012 to 2015, he was the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Rostov Academic Symphony Orchestra. He also served as the professor of the conducting department of the Rostov State Conservatoire.

From 2005, Polianichko gave orchestral master-classes for the Swedish National Orchestra Academy, Symphony Orchestra of the Royal College of Music, London, Chamber Orchestra of the Cambridge University, and Britten-Pears Youth Orchestra. Since 2002, he has been holding annual conducting master-classes in St. Petersburg organized by Peter the Great Music Academy, the Royal Baltic festival, and the Theatre of Hermitage Museum, to which students come from all over the world.

Polianichko appears at many prestigious music festivals in Russia and abroad including: Edinburgh, Aldeburgh and Savonlinna, Golden Mask, White Nights, and Shalyapin Opera Festivals.