Karl Eliasberg

Karl Ilitch Eliasberg (Belarusian: Карл Ілліч Эліасберг; Карл Ильич Элиасберг) (10 June 1907 in Minsk – 12 February 1978 in Leningrad) was a Soviet conductor.

Eliasberg graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory as a violinist in 1929, and was conductor of the Leningrad Theatre of Musical Comedy from 1929 to 1931 before joining Leningrad Radio as conductor.

Eliasberg was conductor of the Leningrad Radio Orchestra and only second conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic but played a part in one key event in society and culture in Saint Petersburg during the siege of Leningrad when Dmitri Shostakovich dedicated his Seventh Symphony to the city as the "Leningrad Symphony." The symphony had already been premiered in Kuibyshev on 5 March 1942 under Samuil Samosud, then performed in Moscow (29 March 1942), London (22 June 1942) and New York City (19 July 1942). When Eliasberg was asked to conduct the Leningrad première only 15 members of the orchestra were still available; the others had either starved to death or left to fight the enemy. The concert was given on 9 August 1942 in the Leningrad Bolshoy Philharmonic Hall under the baton of Eliasberg, the second conductor with any people who could be gathered from the main orchestra, the reserve orchestra and military bands, and was heard over the radio and lifted the spirits of the survivors.

Eliasberg was recognised as a Meritorious Artist of the RSFSR 1944, but after the war Yevgeny Mravinsky returned and blocked Eliasberg's career in Leningrad so he became a travelling provincial conductor.

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