Conductor, Pianist, Composer. Best known for his long association with Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, for which he served as principal conductor from 1919 to 1928 and again from 1948 to 1952. He was also noted for his pioneering work in Soviet radio. In 1948 he was named People's Artist of the USSR. Nikolai Semyonovich Golovanov was born in Moscow, where he studied at the Synodal School of Church Music and at the Conservatory. He made his conducting debut in 1915, the year he joined the Bolshoi as choirmaster and assistant conductor. Devoted to the music of his countrymen, he specialized in performing operas by Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Glinka; he also gave the Soviet premiere of Prokofiev's "The Love for Three Oranges" in 1927. In 1924 Golovanov launched a new phase in his career when he led artists of the Bolshoi in the USSR's first radio broadcast of classical music. He was appointed director of Moscow Radio in 1929 and led the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1937 until his death. In addition he taught conducting at Moscow Conservatory. After World War II he began an ambitious series of Russian opera recordings with the Bolshoi, winning Stalin Prizes (first class) for "Boris Godunov" (1949), "Sadko" (1950), and "Khovanshchina" (1951). Described as an affable man off duty, Golovanov was an explosive tyrant on the podium, ruthlessly driving his musicians to get the interpretations he wanted. His style was aggressive, hyper-romantic and occasionally over the top, but never dull. He also tried to maintain a sense of artistic integrity in the face of Stalin's ever-changing cultural policies. Golovanov performed the music of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin when it was frowned upon by the Soviet authorities, and after World War II he resisted a growing trend towards anti-Semitism by encouraging Jewish singers. His attitude made him enemies in both the Moscow theatre scene and the Politburo. One morning in 1952 he went to work at the Bolshoi as usual and found himself barred at the entrance - he had been summarily dismissed. He never got over the humiliation and died the following year. Golovanov was also active as a composer. His output included two operas, a symphony, and some 200 art songs. Many of the latter were written for his wife, famed singer Antonina Nezhdanova, whom he frequently accompanied as pianist on recital tours.