Mariss Jansons
Edvard Tchivzhel was born into a musical family in St. Petersburg, Russia (formerly Leningrad, USSR). He graduated from the prestigious Leningrad Conservatory, which produced notable alumni such as Jascha Heifetz, Mariss Jansons, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Dmitri Shostakovich, Vladimir Sofronitsky, Yuri Temirkanov, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with degrees in piano and conducting. He then completed three years of postgraduate study under Latvian conductor, Arvid Jansons (father of Mariss Jansons). Tchivzhel was the winner of the Third Soviet Conductor's Competition in Moscow, while still a student.