Raya Garbousova (russian: Ра́я Га́рбузова; September 25, 1909Alternative dates appear in the literature. The ''New Grove'' has September 25, 1906, and ''Baker's Dictionary'' has October 10, 1905. Raya Garbousova herself claimed to have been born on September 25, 1909 �

/ref> – January 28, 1997) was a Russian Empire-born American cellist and teacher.

Early life and career

According to the biography contained in the program booklet for the 1997 memorial concert in her honor in DeKalb, Illinois, she made her formal debut in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

in 1923 and left the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1925. She lived and performed in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, and gave her first performance in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1935. In December 1938, she toured the UK as supporting artist to

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

. She emigrated to the United States in 1939. In 1948, she married cardiologist Kurt Biss and settled in DeKalb, Illinois. She taught at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

from 1973 until her retirement in 1991. Besides teaching at NIU, Garbousova also taught at the

Hartt College of Music The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford located in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, that offers degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and ...

in Hartford, Connecticut, and gave many master classes at prominent musical institutions. They raised two sons, Gregory Biss (born 1942) and Paul Biss (born 1944). Gregory is a pianist and composer. Paul is a violinist and violist who is married to violinist Miriam Fried; one of their children,

Jonathan Biss Jonathan Biss (born September 18, 1980) is an American pianist, teacher, and writer based in Philadelphia. He is the co-artistic director (with Mitsuko Uchida) of the Marlboro Music Festival. Early life and education Biss was born into a fam ...

, is a classical pianist. During her performing career, she performed with many of the world's leading orchestras and conductors. To many who knew her, she was particularly associated with the cello music of Samuel Barber. Barber wrote his cello concerto for her, and she performed its world premiere with Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1946. Her recording of the Barber Sonata for Cello and Piano is also well known in this context. For her students, in addition to providing the typical technical and musical instruction which master teachers provide, she added the perspective of having personally known many of the great composers and string soloists of the twentieth century.

Legacy

In the booklet of letters and biographies which was distributed privately to participants in the 1997 Memorial Concert for Raya Garbousova, Mstislav Rostropovich stated, "For me, Raya was my closest, dearest friend." In this same document,

János Starker János Starker (; ; July 5, 1924 – April 28, 2013) was a Hungarian-American cellist. From 1958 until his death, he taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he held the title of Distinguished Professor. Starker is consider ...

stated, "But play she did and on a level of artistry that earned her a place among the handful of truly greats of the century."

Partial discography

*Samuel Barber: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra ( Decca Records LP, DL 10132, 1966)

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garbousova, Raya 1909 births 1997 deaths Northern Illinois University faculty University of Hartford Hartt School faculty Musicians from Tbilisi Soviet emigrants to the United States American classical cellists Soviet classical cellists American people of Russian descent American music educators American women music educators 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century American musicians American women classical cellists 20th-century American women musicians American women academics 20th-century cellists