Veniamin Margolin

Who was Veniamin Margolin?

Veniamin Savelyevich Margolin was a Soviet Russian classical trumpeter and music teacher. He was the principal trumpeter at the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra and professor of trumpet at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.

Veniamin Margolin started to play the trumpet at the age of 11 years old. Since 1944 to 1947 he played at the Kirov Orchestra despite of the fact that he had not got higher musical education by that time. In 1952 he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied with professors Alexander Schmidt and Mikhail Vetrov. In 1947 Margolin became a trumpeter of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky. He was an important part of the classic era of Leningrad Philharmonic of the Fifties, Sixties and the Seventies as well as some other renowned brass soloists: horn player Vitaly Buyanovsky, trombonist Akim Kozlov, etc. Since 1988 until his death he was a professor of trumpet at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Margolin was also an amateur poet. Several books of his lyrics have been published. Veniamin Margolin died on March 19, 2009 the at the age of 87. He was buried at the Smolensky Cemetery in St. Petersburg.