Dobroven, Issay Alexandrovich
DOBROVEN, ISSAY ALEXANDROVICH
DOBROVEN, ISSAY ALEXANDROVICH (1894–1953), conductor and composer. Dobroven was born in Nizhni-Novgorod, and was a child prodigy as a pianist. He later studied at the Moscow Conservatoire, and joined *Godowsky's master class in Vienna. Between 1917 and 1921 he was a professor at the Moscow Music Academy; in 1919 he became chief conductor at the Imperial Opera. He staged in Dresden (1923) the first German performance of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, the first step in a lifetime's pioneering of Russian music all over the world which led to his appointment as conductor at the Grosse Volksoper (1924) and of the Dresden symphony concerts. From then until World War ii he was musical director of the Bulgarian State Opera, Sofia (1927–28) and guest conductor in the United States, Palestine, Italy, and of the Budapest Royal Opera. He spent the war years in Sweden, after which he resumed his international career. In operatic engagements Dobroven was his own producer and stage director. Outstanding among his many compositions was a piano concerto, the solo part of which he played all over Europe.
[Max Loppert (2nd ed.)]