[Deathwatch] Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian conductor, 73

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Russian Conductor Svetlanov Dies Aged 73 
Sat May 4, 9:10 AM ET 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian conductor, composer and pianist Yevgeny
Svetlanov, lauded as one of the greatest Russian musicians of the 20th
century, died late Friday at his Moscow home at the age of 73. 
  
Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) sent his
condolences to Svetlanov's family, the Kremlin announced. Russia's NTV
television said Svetlanov's final concert had been in London last
month. 

"The loss of such a musician, such a figure of Russian national
culture, is almost an irreplaceable loss," Boris Pokrovsky, former
chief stage director at Moscow's renowned Bolshoi Theater, told Ekho
Moskvy radio. 

The grey-haired, jowly musician was a former chief conductor at the
Bolshoi and made his conducting debut there in 1955. 

In 1965, he was made artistic director and chief conductor for the
Soviet Union's State Symphony Orchestra, but was dismissed from the
post two years ago by Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoi. 

Born in 1928 in Moscow, he was named a People's Artist of the Soviet
Union in 1968 and went on to collect a raft of other state awards and
titles.