Timofei Dokshizer, Biography

BIO

Timofei Dokshizer was born on December 13th, 1921 in the town of Nezhin, Ukraine to the family of musicians. He received his initial education at the Glazunov Music College in Moscow under the tutelage of Ivan Vasilevsky. He continued his studies at the Central Music School in the class of professor Mikhail Tabakov. In 1950, Dokshizer graduated from the Gnessin’s Music Institute under the supervision of the same professor. Mr. Dokshizer received his Master Degree in conducting from the Moscow State Conservatory in 1957, studying with Leo Ginzburg.
At age 19, Timofei Dokshizer won the Soviet-Union brass instruments’ players competition and in 1947, Mr. Dokshizer won the International Competition in Prague, which jumpstarted his performance career. From that point on, his profound artistry and creativity set a standard of excellence for other trumpeters to follow.
He frequently toured the USSR and abroad, winning aclaim from critics who praised his timber, beautiful tone, unique phrasing, and filigree technique. In addition to his solo performances, Dokshizer worked at the Bolshoi Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Moscow. Here, he was revered for his brilliant renditions of some of the most difficult orchestral trumpet solos, particularly in Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” Prokofiev’s “War and Peace” and “Romeo and Juliet,” Khachaturian’s “Spartacus,” and many others.
His Repertoire was incredibly vast and included nearly everything ever written for the trumpet, along with works previously arranged for the instrument, from Bach, Haydn, Hummel, Albinoni and Vivaldi to his contemporaries, Shostakovich, Wainberg, Schedrin, Gershwin and others. Many works performed by Timofei Dokshizer were his own transcriptions, of which there were over 80 along the course of his lifetime. Among these were popular miniatures, originally written for violin, piano or voice by Kreisler, Sarasate, Debussy, Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rubinstein, Rachmaninoff, Chopin and he often included his own cadenzas for concerti by Haydn, Hummel and Arutiunian. Mr. Dokshizer was responsible for a tremendous expansion of trumpet repertoire, both through his own contribution to the art form and through compositions written especially for him throughout his life.
Nearly a quarter century of Mr. Dokshizer’s career was dedicated to pedagogical work. He was a professor at the Gnessin’s Music Institute and has brought up scores of talented trumpet players. He has left behind invaluable teaching materials. Mr. Dokshizer conducted and adjudicated countless teaching seminars, master classes, international competitions and festivals. He moved to Vilnius, Lithuania in 1990 where he lived until his passing on March 16, 2005.