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'Sol Hurok' ('Solomon Isiaevich Hurok') (April 9, 1888, Ukraine — March 5, 1974, New York City) was a world famous 20th century American impresario.^[1] Hurok moved to the United States in 1906 and became a naturalized citizen in 1914.
During Sol Hurok's long and illustrious career,^[2][2] 'S. Hurok Presents' managed many major performing artists, including Marian Anderson, Irina Arkhipova, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Feodor Chaliapin, Van Cliburn, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine, Emil Gilels, Jerome Hines, David Oistrakh, Anna Pavlova, Svyatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Arthur Rubinstein, Galina Vishnevskaya, Efrem Zimbalist, and many others.
The First Moog Quartet, the first to perform electronic music in Carnegie Hall, was formed in 1970 in response to Hurok's request to hear the Moog synthesizer live concert.
In 1935, Rubinstein introduced Hurok to singer Marian Anderson,^[4][5] who retained Hurok as her manager. A few years later Hurok, with Walter White of the NAACP and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was instrumental in persuading U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes to arrange the now-legendary Easter Sunday open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939.
In 1959, after 35 years of effort,^[6] Sol Hurok brought the historic Russian Bolshoi Ballet to the United States for an eight week performance tour. In 1961, he brought Russia's Kirov Academy of Ballet and the Igor Moiseyev Ballet Company to the U.S. In 1962, he achieved the extraordinary by again bringing the Bolshoi to the U.S. for a tour at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.^[7]
In 1972, a bomb planted in Hurok's Manhattan office exploded,^[8][9] killing his receptionist and injuring several others, including Hurok. The bombing had been arranged by the Jewish Defense League, which opposed the U.S. tours of artists from the Soviet Union.
In 1974, en route to a meeting with David Rockefeller to discuss a Rudolf Nureyev project, Sol Hurok died of a heart attack.

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References

References

1. Book Review: ''The Last Impresario: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Sol Hurok,'' by Harlow Robinson Harris Green
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4. Brief notes about Sol Hurok
5. Marian Anderson, Voice of the Century United States Postal Service
6. What Sol Wrought
7. Sol Hurok: America's dance impresario Harlow Robinson
8. Chapter One, excerpt: ''Rookie Cop: Deep Undercover in the Jewish Defense League'' Richard Rosenthal
9. Jewish Defense League Unleashes Campaign of Violence in America Donald Neff