Gergiev was born in Moscow but was brought up in North Ossetia in the Caucasus. He was not a child prodigy, but he began to play the piano at secondary school, before going on to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Leningrad from 1972 to 1977. His main conducting teacher was Ilya Musin who was one of the greatest conductors and teachers of conducting in Russian musical history.