Israel Borisovich Gusman (August 18, 1917 – January 29, 2003) was a Soviet conductor and professor of music at the Nizhny Novgorod Conservatory.
In 1931, the young Gusman graduated from the Gnessin School of Music and entered the military conducting department of the Moscow Conservatory.
While at the Gorky, Gusman conducted for pianist Oleg Kagan playing Maurice Ravel, with Sviatoslav Richter in attendance.
[3] From 1963 to 1964 Gusman worked as a conductor at the Bolshoi Theater, conducting in productions of the operas The Queen of Spades and Boris Godunov.
Alan Blyth writes that a recording of Gusman conducting Rachmaninoff at the Bolshoi, with Ivan Kozlovsky at the piano, represents "a marvellous over-thetop orchestration and consummate vocal style and expression.
Below, the text is carved in gold: "In this house from 1970 to 2003 there lived an outstanding conductor and musical figure, People's Artist of Russia, Honorary Citizen of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Israel Borisovich Gusman."