Paul Merkelo
The three works featured on this recording each have a connection with the trumpeter Timofei Dokshizer. Born in Nizhyn (in the Chernihiv region, now Ukraine) on 13 December 1921, he commenced his concert activity on All-Union Radio when barely 20, and then, in 1947, gained first prize at a competition in Prague. Although he enjoyed a notable career as a soloist, he was also for many years principle trumpeter with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, from which his distinctive tone can be heard on many commercial and archival recordings of the operatic and ballet repertoire. He pursued a distinguished academic career, being a professor at the Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow for a quarter-century and giving classes at the International Trumpet Academy in Bremen throughout the 1990s. He died in Vilnius on 16 March 2005, having done much to expand both the solo and the concertante repertoire for his instrument.