Bakaleinikov, Vladimir

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Bakaleinikov, Vladimir

Bakaleinikov, Vladimir, Russian-American violinist, conductor, pedagogue, and composer; b. Moscow, Oct. 12, 1885; d. Pittsburgh, Nov. 5, 1953. He studied violin with Michael Press. After graduating from the Moscow Cons. (1907), he was the violist in the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg String Quartet (1910–20), a teacher at the St. Petersburg Cons. (1913–20), and an opera conductor at the Musicalnaya Drama in St. Petersburg (1914–16). He taught at the Moscow Cons. (1920–24) and was head of the opera branch of the Moscow Art Theater (1920–27). From 1927 to 1937 he was asst. conductor of the Cincinnati Sym. Orch. In 1940^41 he was assoc. conductor of the Pittsburgh Sym. Orch. His most brilliant student was Lorin Maazel. He wrote a Viola Concerto (1937) and a suite of oriental dances for orch., and publ. arrangements of works by Bach and Beethoven. He was the author of Elementary Rules of Conducting (1937) and The Instruments of the Band and Orchestra (1940).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire