Samuil Samosud (1884, Tiflis - 1964, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet conductor, cellist and teacher.

After graduating from music school in 1905, the young man travelled to Prague, where he studied with the renowned cellist Hanuš Wihan and also with the chief conductor of the Prague Opera, Karel Kovařovic. The young musician further developed his performing skills at the Schola Сantorum in Paris under the guidance of composer Vincent d'Indy and conductor Édouard Colonne. Apparently, it was during this period that Samuil Samosud came to the decision to devote himself to conducting. Nevertheless, for some time after his return from abroad, the musician served as cello soloist at the People's House in St Petersburg.

In 1910-1917, Samosud was a conductor of the People's House Opera Theatre, where he conducted the operas “Faust”, “Lakme”, “The Oprichnik” (The Guardsman), and “Dubrovsky”. In 1916, Samosud conducted “Rusalka” with Fyodor Chaliapin by Alexander Dargomyzhsky. Samosud worked with amazing enthusiasm and dedication.

The composer Ivan Dzerzhinsky wrote: ‘for him, an opera performance is a fusion of musical and dramatic images into the organic whole, the creation of a truly artistic ensemble in the presence of a single idea, creating a truly artistic ensemble, the subordination of all elements of the performance to the main, leading idea of the work’.

In 1917-1919, Samuil Abramovich served at the Mariinsky Theatre, and then was invited to take up the post of the chief conductor of the reorganized Mikhailovsky Theatre. The musician headed the Maly Opera Theatre until 1936, premiering new Soviet operas there. Significant among them were the operas by Dmitri Shostakovich “The Nose” (1930) and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” (1935) – ‘an opera that makes an epoch’, which was the title of an article by S. Samosud. Samosud, which he published after the premiere of this opera. Two operas by Ernst Krenek were staged for the first time at the Maly Opera House – “Jonny Spielt Auf“ and “Leap over the Shadow”. In 1935, S. Samosud conducted the scandalously famous production of the opera “The Queen of Spades” staged by Vsevolod Meyerhold in this theatre.

In 1936-1943, Samosud served as Principal Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, where he conducted new productions of “Ivan Susanin” by M. Glinka; “Ruslan and Lyudmila” and “Iolanta” by P. Tchaikovsky. During the Bolshoi Theatre evacuation to Kuybyshev (Samara), the Seventh Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich (1942) was performed for the first time under the baton of Samuil Samosud.

From 1943 to 1950, Samosud served as Principal conductor at the Moscow Academic Musical Theatre named after K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. In addition, Samosud led the opera and symphony orchestra at the All-Union Radio Committee, on the basis of which he created the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.

С. Samosud can be considered a link between two epochs: The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The conductor played an important role in the musical life of the USSR. Those who evidenced his magnificent productions on theatre stages and in concert performances for ever preserved them in their minds. These are “The Golden Cockerel” (1923) by Rimsky-Korsakov, “The Quiet Don” (1935) by Dzerzhinsky, “Ivan Susanin” (1939) by Glinka, “Iolanta” (1940) by Tchaikovsky, “War and Peace” (1946) by Prokofiev, “The Family of Taras” (1951) by Kabalevsky and other operatic works. Conducting, Samosud never drowned out the singers, trying to subordinate the entire performance to the vocal sound; at the same time, the orchestra's playing was always characterized by brilliance, clarity and filigree execution of details.

Samuil Samosud was a very sociable person, a pleasant and witty interlocutor with bright sense of humour. When Samuil Samosud himself stood at the conductor's console and raised his baton, everything came to a standstill.

The conductor died on November 6, 1964. The maestro was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Musical selection for the 140^th birth anniversary of Samuil Samosud is posted in the museum Phonotheque.