1. Rudolf Borisovich Barshai was a Soviet and Russian conductor and violist.
14 Facts About Rudolf Barshai
1. 2.
Rudolf Barshai studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Tseitlin and Vadim Borisovsky.
3.
Rudolf Barshai performed as a soloist with Sviatoslav Richter and David Oistrakh and as a member of a trio with Mstislav Rostropovich and Leonid Kogan.
4.
Rudolf Barshai later studied conducting under Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory.
5.
In 1955, Rudolf Barshai founded the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, which he led and conducted until he emigrated to the West in 1977.
6.
Rudolf Barshai was the artistic director of the Israel Chamber Orchestra from 1978 to 1981.
7.
From 1981 until 1982, Rudolf Barshai was principal conductor of Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestre National de France from 1985 to 1986.
8.
Rudolf Barshai was the principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra from 1982 to 1988 as well as the permanent Guest Conductor in many Orchestras of Europe, Canada, USA, Taiwan, and Japan.
9.
In 1954, Rudolf Barshai married Anna Martinson, a Russian painter and costume designer and daughter of the Soviet comic Sergey Martinson.
10.
Together they had a son, Walter Rudolf Barshai, born in 1955.
11.
The couple divorced in 1963 and, in 1968, Rudolf Barshai married Japanese translator Teruko Soda.
12.
Rudolf Barshai achieved fame as a musical interpreter and arranger of Shostakovich's and Prokofiev's music.
13.
Rudolf Barshai is particularly noted for his arrangements of Shostakovich's string quartets, especially String Quartet No 8, for chamber orchestra.
14.
In 2000, Rudolf Barshai produced a performing version of Mahler's Tenth Symphony, which was left unfinished at the composer's death.