Boris Dubossarsky
Boris Dubossarsky (full name Boris Semyonovich Dubossarsky; 3 February 1947 – 1 November 2017) was a Moldovan Soviet composer, violinist, violist, and music teacher. He was named Honored Artist of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1989 and Master of Arts of the Republic of Moldova in 2007.
He graduated from the Gavriil Musicescu Moldavian Institute of Arts as a violinist in 1968, and completed composition studies with Vasily Zagorsky in 1973. From 1964 to 1965 he played in the orchestras of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, and from 1965 to 1967 he was a performer with the Moldavian State Philharmonic. Between 1966 and 1971, he helped establish the Chișinău People's Jewish Music and Drama Theatre, where he was a violinist and conductor of its orchestra. He wrote music for its productions of Zyamke Kopach and Hershele Ostropolyer.
From 1967, with an interruption, Dubossarsky was a member of the string quartet of Moldavian Radio and Television Broadcasting and served as musical director of the Violins of Moldova ensemble. Beginning in 1986, he taught at the Moldavian National Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts, where he became a professor. His students included David Oistrakh Competition laureate Iulian Gîrneț and pop guitarist Liviu Știrbu.
His compositions included a 1978 chamber symphony for string orchestra, string quartet, and timpani; the lyric cantata Dorul for tenor, mixed choir, and symphony orchestra; an orchestral suite; a violin concerto; a Scherzo for unison violins and symphony orchestra; chamber works for strings, trumpet, horn, piano, and solo cello; and choral and song cycles. His vocal music set texts by Aureliu Busuioc, Alexandru Donici, Federico García Lorca, Maksim Tank, Emil Loteanu, Grigore Vieru, and other poets. He also produced orchestral arrangements, wrote music for puppet and television productions, and composed the children’s song suite The Seasons.
Among his later works were the vocal-symphonic cycle 12 Synagogue Melodies (2001–2002), a Paraphrase on Themes from A. Goldfaden’s Operetta The Sorceress for violin, cello, and piano (2001), and a Fantasy for Piano, Violin and Cello (2003), drawing on several operettas by Avrum Goldfaden. His solo violin sonata was recorded in 2022 by his daughter, violinist, teacher, and composer Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler.