Ivan Andreevich Kolchin, 1893 - 1967

Ivan Andreevich Kolchin was born in Kalinino, Viatskaia guberniia, on 1 August 1893. He received an education in music (specializing in church singing), and by 1910 was already conducting a choir at the Church of St. Nicholas, in the town of Slobodskoi. From 1912 to 1917 he was a student at Kazan' University, managing to find time to conduct the university choir as well. The Civil War forced him into emigration in China, where he once again turned to conducting choirs as a profession, this time earning a worldwide reputation.

From 1921 to 1936, he was the choir director of the Church of St. Aleksei in Mojiagou, China (a suburb of Harbin), and from 1936 to 1940 he was the choir director of the Church of St. Nicholas in Shanghai. At the same time, he trained and conducted his own male choir that toured China, drawing large audiences, winning prizes and achieving some prominence there and abroad.

Kolchin became so well-known for the quality of his work that he was invited to conduct the choir of Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Francisco. He directed this choir from 1940 to 1962, also finding time to direct a Russian male choir that appeared in concert programs throughout California. Kolchin died in San Francisco in April 1967.

Detailed processing and preservation microfilming for these materials were made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by matching funds from the Hoover Institution and Museum of Russian Culture. The grant also provides for depositing a microfilm copy in the Hoover Institution Archives.The original materials and copyright to them (with some exceptions) are the property of the Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco.

Ivan Kolchin Register