Tatiana Gaidamovich was a Soviet cellist, teacher, scholar, and public figure in musical life. She was a professor at the Moscow State Conservatory named after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and received the title Honored Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1979.
Born in Moscow, she studied cello at the Gnessin Music School with Lev Rostropovich. She graduated from the Gnessin Music School’s string department in 1941, where she studied with Alexander Georgian, and from the Moscow Conservatory’s orchestral department in 1947. At the conservatory, her teachers included Galina Kozolupova in cello, Alexander Goldenweiser in chamber ensemble, and Mikhail Terian in quartet. During her studies, she also taught at music schools in Moscow.
From 1941 to 1947, Gaidamovich performed with the orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre. From 1941 to 2004, with short breaks, she held teaching and administrative posts at the Moscow State Conservatory, including head of department and dean of its orchestral faculty. She trained more than 600 concertmasters, symphony orchestra soloists, and teachers.
Gaidamovich completed a candidate’s dissertation on Sviatoslav Knushevitsky as performer and teacher in 1978, and earned a doctorate in art history in 1994 with a dissertation on the Russian piano trio. She wrote more than 100 books and articles analyzing musicians’ work. Her honors included the Order of the Badge of Honor, the Order of Friendship, the Order of Honor, and the Moscow Prize in Literature and Art in 2003. She died in Moscow on November 12, 2005, and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.
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