Bukša, Mikhail Mikhailovic

Born Apr. 4 (16), 1869, in Vilnius; died there Mar. 7, 1953. Soviet conductor and teacher. Honored Art Worker of the Lithuanian SSR (1945).

In 1900, Buksa graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the composition class taught by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. K. Liadov, and N. F. Solov’ev. During the years 1898-1927 he conducted opera and ballet performances in various Russian cities, including Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tiflis, and others. In 1927 he began working in the Lithuanian Theater of Opera and Ballet (prior to 1948 in Kaunas and since 1949 in Vilnius). In 1944, Buksa started teaching at the Kaunas Conservatory (since 1947 as a professor). He conducted many productions (approximately 100) of Russian and Western European operas and ballets, as well as a number of Lithuanian operas, including Gražina by Karnavičius (1933) and Three Talismans by Raciunas (1936). In 1940, Buksa was the first to conduct Dzerzinskii’s opera And Quiet Flows the Don on the Lithuanian stage. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and a medal.