Avranek, Ulrikh Iosifovich

Born Dec. 26, 1853, in Klucenice; died Aug. 12, 1937, in Moscow. Soviet opera chorus master and conductor. People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1932), Hero of Labor (1934).

By nationality a Czech, Avranek moved to Russia in 1874 and worked in the provinces as a conductor and cello soloist in opera theaters in Kazan, Saratov, Kharkov, and other towns. In 1882 he was offered the position of conductor and chief chorus master of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and for the remainder of his creative life he was connected with this institution. Avranek participated in the first productions (on the stage of the Bol’shoi Theater) of the following operas: A. P. Borodin’s Prince Igor, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Christmas Eve and Mozart and Salieri, and others. Together with I. K. Al’tani he helped to raise the standards of Russian operatic choruses.