Roman Matsov

{{Short description|Soviet and Estonian conductor (1917–2001)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Roman Voldemarovich Matsov

| image =

| image_caption =

| birth_name = Roman Voldemarovich Matsov

| also_known_as =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|04|27|df=y}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|08|24|1917|04|27|df=y}}

| birth_place = Petrograd, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

| death_place = Tallinn, Estonia

| nationality =

| genre = Classical

| occupation = Conductor

| instruments = Violin, piano

| years_active = 1940s–2001

| labels =

| website =

}}

Roman Voldemarovich Matsov ({{Langx|ru|Роман Вольдемарович Матсов}}; 27 April 1917, Petrograd – 24 August 2001, Tallinn) was a Soviet and EstonianSchmelz P [https://www.jstor.org/pss/4138506 Andrey Volkonsky and the Beginnings of Unofficial Music in the Soviet Union.] Subscription required.{{cite web |url=http://www.freewebs.com/helen_womack/news/tallinnarchive.htm |title=Matsov |accessdate=2010-12-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024050123/http://www.freewebs.com/helen_womack/news/tallinnarchive.htm |archivedate=2012-10-24 }} violinist, pianist, and conductor.

He undertook summer courses in Berlin under Georg Kulenkampff (violin) and Walter Gieseking (piano). In 1940 he graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory in violin and piano, and shortly before Estonia became part of the USSR he entered the Leningrad Conservatory, while still being Konzertmeister of several Estonian symphony orchestras.

At the outbreak of war he volunteered for the front and became a lieutenant, but being wounded severely in 1941. In 1943 he conducted for the first time, in Yaroslav, with the evacuated Estonian artistic collective. He received his first conducting prize in 1946. Matsov received the All-Union Conductors Competition's prize in 1948.Soviet literature Vol 6-12 1948 Soi︠u︡z pisateleĭ SSSR., International Union of Revolutionary Writers "At the all-Union competitions for conductors a young conductor, Roman Matsov, received one of the first prizes" By 1950 he was a regular conductor and lead conductor of Estonia Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra. He gave premiers of many works of Estonian composers, along with Stravinsky, Hindemith, Schoenberg and Webern, and went on to rise rapidly.VOKS bulletin - Soviet Ministry of Culture 1955 "Many young Estonian musicians are completing their musical education at the conservatoires of Moscow and Leningrad. As an example we may cite the talented conductor, Roman Matsov, who came to Leningrad from Tallinn, before the war, "

During the Second World War his family emigrated to Australia and his sister in Australia found out that he was still alive only by seeing news of a concert.Nikolay Efremovich Andreyev A Moth on the Fence 2009 p254 "Another mutual friend, Irina, had emigrated with her family to Australia and was looking for her brother, a musician, Roman Matsov, whom she eventually found by contacting the Estonian Conservatoire. She had learnt that he had survived"

However, later he was criticised for scheduling the works of Mahler.Mare Lott, Aile Möldre A brief history of the Estonian book 2000 "Roman Matsov was labelled a 'homeless cosmopolitan' after a concert he had directed included Gustav Mahler's symphony."