Gavriil Yakimovich Lomakin

When Lomakin was only ten year old he joined the choir of Count Sheremetev. Contiguously he remained with this choir throughout his career. When his voice changed at the age of eighteen he became the director of the choir and between 1850 and 1872 Lomakin establihed the choir as the leading musical institution in all of Russia. Concerts were performed regularly and included the genres of church music, folk songs and contemporary choral works some of which were composed by Lomakin. During his conductorship, Lomakin's pupils included the famous Russian singers Melnikov and Karmalina and the conductor Prince Yury Golitsin. Most of Lomakin's compositions were sacred music but he also wrote two books on singing and published a collection of traditional Russian hymns with the help of Vorotnikov and L'vov. ~ Keith Johnson