Samuil Abramovich Samosud (russian: Самуи́л Абра́мович Самосу́д) ( Tbilisi, Georgia, — Moscow, 6 November 1964), PAU, was a Soviet and Russian

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

. He started his musical career as a

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

, before becoming a conductor at the Mariinsky Theater,

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1917. From 1918 to 1936 he conducted at the Maly Operny, Leningrad. In 1936 he became musical director at the

Bolshoi Theater The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

, Moscow. He founded what became the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in 1951. He premiered several important works, including Shostakovich's '' Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'', '' The Nose'' and the Seventh Symphony; as well as Prokofiev's '' War and Peace'' and '' On Guard for Peace''. Shostakovich "had a high opinion" of Samosud's theatrical performances, and regarded him as "the supreme interpreter" of operatic works including ''Lady Macbeth''. Nonetheless, after hearing Samosud conduct the Seventh Symphony, the composer wrote that he wanted to hear Yevgeny Mravinsky perform the symphony, as he didn't "have great faith in Samosud as a symphonic conductor".

References

External links

Samuel Samosud — Biography on Prokofiev.org
(on Internet Archive, captured on 4 February 2012) 1884 births 1964 deaths Soviet conductors (music) 20th-century Russian conductors (music) Russian male conductors (music) 20th-century Russian male musicians Russian Jews Musicians from Tbilisi Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery {{russia-conductor-stub