Rozhdestvensky studied conducting with his father Nikolai Anosov at the Moscow Conservatory. He studied piano with the great pianist Lev Oborin. When he was 20 years old, he conducted Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre. He soon became famous. He gave the first performances of many works of Soviet composers, as well as the first Russian performance of Benjamin Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".