Grigoriy Grinberg Famous Soviet and Israeli composer. Date of Birth: 07.02.1923 Country: Israel

Biography of Grigory Grinberg

Grigory Grinberg is a renowned Soviet and Israeli composer. He was born in the city of Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia. At the age of nine, after participating in a music competition, he was recognized as the best bayan player in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. At 11, he enrolled in the Irkutsk Music School, where his first teacher was clarinetist Pavel Pavlovich Gogolev, the conductor of the Irkutsk Young Spectator Theater Orchestra.

After completing the ninth grade, Grigory started working in the theater. In 1941, shortly after the start of the Great Patriotic War, he was drafted into the Soviet Army. He entered the Irkutsk Engineering and Mine School, which he completed on January 30, 1942. After graduating, Lieutenant Grigory Grinberg was sent to the front, where he served as a platoon commander in the separate 364th Special Purpose Fighter Battalion. He received his first combat experience as a sapper near Moscow. In December 1942, he was severely wounded in battles near Volokolamsk and spent four months in the hospital. He fought on various fronts, including the Central, 1st Ukrainian, Don, 1st and 2nd Belarusian, Northwest, Voronezh, and Stalingrad fronts.

For storming Height 261 on the Kalinin Front, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He was also awarded two Orders of the Red Banner for his military exploits, one of which was personally presented to him by Marshal K. K. Rokossovsky for saving his battalion commander, as well as the Order of the Patriotic War. At the end of the war, he became the commander and military conductor of the musical platoon in General Lelyushenko's tank corps. In the victorious 1945, Major Grinberg, as a conductor, led one of the columns of the combined wind orchestra through the streets of defeated Berlin.

After the war, Grigory continued to conduct the military orchestra. In 1947, with the consent of the military command, he entered the composition department of the Moscow Conservatory, combining his studies with work in the orchestra. He also perfected his clarinet playing. One of his teachers was Dmitry Shostakovich. After graduating from the conservatory, he was sent to Dushanbe. He also lived in Siberia, Moldova, Crimea, and served as a conductor of the military orchestra, consisting of 120 musicians, as part of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Mongolia, with the rank of Guard Colonel. He taught in music schools, personally directed the work of various musical groups, and composed music.

In 1997, he repatriated to Israel. After repatriation, he received additional awards to his military honors, including the Zhukov Medal, the commemorative badge for the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Ukraine, the Medal "50 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War," the Israeli Jubilee Medal "60 Years of Victory over Nazism," and others. He is the author of many musical compositions, including an opera "The Family of Taras" and music for the ballet "Here was the Aul of Dushanbe" while working at the Tajik Opera and Ballet Theatre. He is also the author of songs such as "Khrustinovka - My Love," "Be'er Sheva," "A Grandson is Born," "My Heart Suddenly Yearned for Warmth," and others. In addition, he composed music for the children's opera-fairy tale "Forest Incident" with libretto by Natasha Lange and the ballet "Thumbelina".