Roman Voldemarovich Matsov (Matsov, Roman) |

Matsov, Roman

Soviet conductor, People’s Artist of the Estonian SSR (1968). Matsov was preparing to become an instrumentalist. By 1940 he graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory in violin and piano. In addition, the young musician attended summer courses in Berlin under the guidance of G. Kullenkampf and W. Gieseking. After Estonia became Soviet, Matsov entered the Leningrad Conservatory, improving his violin and piano; even before the war he was an accompanist in the best Estonian symphony orchestras.

The war disrupted all his plans. He volunteered for the front and fought with the rank of second lieutenant. In the late autumn of 1941, Matsov was seriously wounded in the shoulder. There was nothing to dream about performing activity. But Matsov could not part with music. And then his fate was decided. In 1943, he first stood at the conductor’s stand. This happened in Yaroslavl, where Estonian art groups were evacuated. Already in 1946, at the All-Union Review of Conductors, Matsov was awarded the second prize. Soon regular concert activity began. Since 1950, Matsov has led the Estonian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. Music lovers from dozens of cities in the country are well acquainted with the art of the Estonian artist. Under the baton of Matsov, the works of many composers of the republic were performed for the first time – A. Kapp, E. Kapp, V. Kapp, J. Ryaats, A. Garshnek, A. Pyart and others. The conductor especially often refers to samples of modern foreign music – for the first time in the Soviet Union he performed works by I. Stravinsky, P. Hindemith, A. Schoenberg, A. Webern and others.

L. Grigoriev, J. Platek, 1969