Koutzen, Boris

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Koutzen, Boris

Koutzen, Boris, Russian-American violinist, teacher, and composer; b. Uman, near Kiev, April 1, 1901; d. Mount Kisco, N.Y., Dec. 10, 1966. He studied violin with Leo Zetlin and composition with Glière at the Moscow Cons. (1918–22). In 1922 he went to the U.S. and joined the violin section of the Philadelphia Orch. (until 1927); later played in the NBC Sym. Orch. in N.Y. (1937–45). He was head of the violin dept. at the Philadelphia Cons. (1925–62) and a teacher at Vassar Coll. in Pough-keepsie, N.Y. (1944–66). His music possesses an attractive Romantic flavor in an old Russian manner. He composed a number of orch. pieces, among them Solitude (Philadelphia, April 1, 1927, composer conducting), Valley Forge, symphonic poem (N.Y., Feb. 19, 1940), Concerto for 5 Solo Instruments (Boston, Feb. 23, 1940), Violin Concerto (Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1952, Nadia Koutzen, composer’s daughter, soloist), and Concertante for 2 Flutes and Orch. (1965), as well as an opera, You Never Know (1962).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire