Ruben Gurevich

Gurevich, Ruben

Ruben Gurevich. Conductor, violinist, b Montevideo, Uruguay, 27 Aug 1944, naturalized Canadian 1976. The son of a violinist, he began his own violin and theory studies at 6 with Guido Santorsola in Montevideo and joined the National SO of Uruguay at 17. He continued his studies in the USA, 1966-7 at Antioch College, Ohio, 1967-8 at Indiana U and 1968-9 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, also attending the Yale U and Northwestern U summer schools. His teachers in the USA included Rafael Druian and Josef Gingold (violin) and Jascha Horenstein, Otto-Werner Mueller, and Hermann Scherchen (conducting). Gurevich then moved to Winnipeg, where he served 1969-73 as assistant concertmaster and 1973-4 as principal second violin of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and 1971-2 as principal second violin of the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra. He founded the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in 1972 and was its sole director until 1981. He gave up playing in 1973 to become, first, the assistant conductor of the Winnipeg SO, then its principal guest conductor 1977-82. He was also the music director and conductor 1976-81 of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. In 1979 he appeared as a guest conductor with the COC (eight performances of Carmen), the TS (at Ontario Place), and the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra. He was conductor-in-residence for the Banff Festival in 1980 and 1981, in addition to working as a Banff CA guest faculty member in 1981.

Gurevich moved to Los Angeles in 1982, where he was director of orchestras at California State U 1982-5, and taught conducting 1985-8 at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1985 he became music director and conductor of the Marrowstone Music Festival in Seattle, Wash and music director of the Seattle Youth SO and its educational programs. He has been a guest conductor in Uruguay (1981), China (1988), and in Canada with the NACO and the Winnipeg SO.