Boris Sobinov

Boris Leonidovich Sobinov (; 1895 in Moscow – 1956 in Klin) was a Russian composer and a son of Leonid Sobinov, Russia’s leading lyric tenor during the first quarter of the 20th Century. Biography Boris was the first child born to Maria Karzhavina, a dramatic actress, and Leonid Sobinov, a famous opera singer, who had met as schoolmates at the Philharmonic Society. Though their union dissolved after only a few years, Leonid remained an active and loving presence in the lives of Boris and his younger brother Yuri (1897-1920). Boris received a military education while obtaining musical training. His younger brother Yuri (1897–1920) was a visual artist and painted the pictured oil portrait of Boris at the piano (1910). Both brothers served in the tsarist army, and then in the White Army during the Civil War. Yuri was killed near Melitopol. Boris, along with army baron Pyotr Wrangel, managed to escape to Germany. He later graduated from Berlin’s High Art School, where he later taught. Throughout his professorial years, he continued to compose his own works. Leonid and Boris reunited as Leonid toured Berlin. In 1931 Boris settled in Riga, where Leonid spent much of a one-year sabbatical