Sol Hurok

Sol Hurok was the legendary impresario who made the impossible breakthrough by bringing the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet to America During the Cuban Missile crisis. At that time he managed to separate the Russian art and culture from the Soviet politics of the day. He was born Solomon Israilevich Gurkov on April 9, 1888, in Pogar, near Kharkov, Russia (now Kharkiv, Ukraine). He was the third son in a traditional Russian-Jewish family. His father, Israil Gurkov, was a retail trader. Young Hurok was a good balalaika player, albeit he was largely self-taught. He also worked for his father's business. At the age of 18, he was sent to study at the Kharkov Trade School, but instead he used all his money to emigrate to America in May, 1906, together with his girlfriend, Tamara Shapiro. They married in 1908 and had a daughter. In America, he changed his name to Sol Hurok, and learned English in addition to his native Russian and Yiddish. He was a peddler, streetcar conductor, bottle-washer, and har