Pavel Petrenko was born in Leningrad in 1981. Graduated from the Glinka Choral School and the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, having specialised in choral conducting and opera and symphony conducting.
From 2004-2006 he worked at the St Petersburg Chamber Opera Company. From 2007-2010 he was a guest conductor with the Zazerkalye children’s music theatre. Since 2008 he has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Vyborg Music Theatre and Studi.
Since 2014 he has been a conductor of the St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra and a guest conductor of the Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
Pavel Petrenko worked as a chorus master at the Mariinsky Theatre from 2003, also appearing as a conductor of concert programmes and opera.