DUBRAVIN Yakov

Yakov (Jacob) Dubravin was born on July 7, 1939 in Leningrad (formerly and now St. Petersburg). He studied in Choir College by Leningrad Cappella and graduated from St. Petersburg Conservatoire in 1962. Now he is a professor in State Culture and Art University and for his activities in the field of choir music he was awarded the title Honored Worker of Art.

He writes mostly songs and vocal works, some of them having acquired immense popularity in Russia. Among his works one counts 2 musicals (one of them, Shoo! or Cat Philophey stories was staged many times in Russia and CIS), 6 cantatas for children’s choir, 15 vocal cycles, more than 300 songs and more than 100 choir transcriptions, also a body of music for cinema, stage and broadcasted plays and shows.

His songs were performed by the most popular Soviet and Russian singers, among them Muslim Magomayev, Maya Kristalinskaya, Eduard Khil. Iosif Kobzon, Maria Pakhomenko, Mikhail Boyarsky, Liudmila Senchina, Maxim Leonidov, as well as opera singers Vladimir Atlantov, Sergey Leiferkus and many others.

His work was honored by state awards (Komsomol award in 1987, Alexandrov award in 1988).

Since 1998 he is a secretary and coordinator of the Concert Agents’ Union of the Russian Federation, which unites singers, directors, stage workers and all persons engaged in concert activities.