Rafael Druian

Druian was born in Vologda, Russia but immigrated with his parents to Havana, Cuba as an infant. He began his formal music training there as a violinist, studying with Amadeo Roldán, the conductor of the Havana Philharmonic. At age 9, he went to Philadelphia to audition for Leopold Stokowski, who recommended him for a scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Lea Luboshutz and Efrem Zimbalist, graduating in 1942. He then served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946, playing the mellophone in the Army Band.

• Dallas Symphony Orchestra, under Antal Doráti: 1947 – 1949
• Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, under Antal Doráti: 1949 – 1960
• Cleveland Orchestra, under George Szell: 1960 – 1969
• New York Philharmonic, under Pierre Boulez: 1971 – 1974

• University of Minnesota
• Cleveland Institute of Music, Artist in Residence
• California Institute of the Arts, Associate Dean of the Music School, 1969 – 1971
• Blossom Music School
• Kent State University
• State University of New York at Purchase
• University of California, San Diego, Professor of Music, 1974 – 1980
• The Hartt School
• Boston University, 1982? – 1989
• Curtis Institute of Music, 1990 – 2001

• Philip Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet
• Herald Klein
• Solomiya Ivakhiv

Druian was married to Phyllis Rugg Druian. They had two sons, Peter of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Greg of Portland, Oregon.