Timofei Alexandrovich Dokshitser (1921 - 2005) was an outstanding Soviet trumpeter, conductor and teacher.
He was born in Nezhin into a family of musicians. His father, Shevel (Alexander) Tevelevich Dokshitser, was a brass band musician, and his mother, Lyuba Nokhimovna Slezova-Luzman, was a pianist. His parents married in 1918 in Nizhyn.
Timofey did not receive a special musical education, but his father was acquainted with the famous violinist M. Erdenko, from whom he took lessons. His father's three brothers were also musicians.
In 1932 the family moved to Moscow, where Timofey began to study trumpet in the music classes of the Glazunov Music School under the direction of I. A. Vasilevsky. At the age of 14, he entered the Central Music School, where his mentor was M. I. Tabakov. He also played in the Balalaika Orchestra of the Central House of the Red Army and performed in various cities of the USSR. At this time he met the composer V. A. Peskin, who wrote several works for trumpet for him.
In 1941, Dokshitser participated in the second All-Union competition of wind instrument performers and took third place. During the war years he was a musician of the Moscow Military District Headquarters Band and took part in the parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941 and in the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945.
In 1945 he entered the Gnessin Musical and Pedagogical Institute, where he studied with M. Tabakov. In the same year he was accepted into the Bolshoi Theater orchestra. In 1947 he won the first international competition in Prague for Soviet wind instrument performers. In 1950 he graduated from the institute, and in 1952 he entered the Moscow Conservatory at the faculty of opera and symphonic conducting.
In 1957 he began performing as a conductor at the Bolshoi Theater, but he did not consider himself a professional conductor and gave up this activity in 1971.
In honor of his 60th birthday, Dokshitzer held a creative evening at the Bolshoi Theater, which was a unique event for an orchestra musician.
He taught at the Gnessin Institute of Music and Pedagogy, where he was first an assistant to M. Tabakov and then became a teacher. Among his pupils were I. Shkolnik, I. Sazonov, V. Istomin, S. Milstein and A. Selyanin.
Dokshitser gave master classes and concerts both in Russia and abroad. He wrote many articles and creative portraits of famous artists such as A. M. Melik-Pashaev, M. I. Tabakov, I. A. Vasilevsky, G. N. Rozhdestvensky, V. Dulova and M. Ermler.
In 1976 he was awarded the title “People's Artist of the RSFSR” and became a lifetime member of the Board of Directors of the International Trumpet Guild (ITG).
In 1989 he underwent heart surgery in the Netherlands. From 1990 he lived in Vilnius with his second wife, Monna Racgus.
He is buried at the Donskoye cemetery in Moscow.
