About Boris Tevlin

Boris Tevlin is one of the best known Russian choral conductors. In 1952 he completed with honors his studies of conducting and choral music at the music school of the Moscow Conservatory and in 1957 completed, again with honors, his studies at the Moscow Conservatory as choral conductor and organist. In 1959 he began teaching and since 1993 has held the chair for choral conducting at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Tevlin’s conducting career has been closely linked to the Students’ Choir of Moscow University at the Conservatory (since 1960: Moscow Youth and Students’ Choir in the All-Russia Choir Society), which he led for forty years (1953–1993). Under his leadership the choir received broad international acclaim and numerous prizes in international choir competitions. From 1979 to 1991 Tevlin directed the Students’ Choir of the Moscow Conservatory. Under his leadership it began performing concerts frequently both within the Soviet Union and abroad (Hungary, Germany, Poland, France) and made numerous recordings. The choir took part regularly in the Moscow Autumn music festival. Tevlin conducted the premieres of works by famous Russian composers such as Edison Denisov, Alfred Schnittke, Kirill Volkov, Vladimir Kalistratov, and Rodion Shchedrin. In 1995 Tevlin founded the Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory, which focuses on the performance of contemporary Russian and Western music. Boris Tevlin has given master classes in Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Israel, China, the United States, France, and Yugoslavia. He is chairman of the jury of the all-Russian choral competitions Singing Russia and Moscow Sounds and a member of the juries of a variety of other choral competitions. Valeria S. Tsenova’s monograph on Boris Tevlin was published in 2001. Boris Tevlin has received the following honors: Order Third Class of the Saint Prince Daniel of Moscow of the Russian Orthodox Church (2003), prize of the City of Moscow (2003), Knight of the Order of Honor (2002), People’s Artist of the Russian Federation (1995), the State Glinka Prize (1985), the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1981), Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1980). Tevlin’s artistic work is also reflected in his extensive discography, which includes outstanding recordings of choral music from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.