work_institution birth_place ethnicity field birth_date known_for residence prizes article_title name alma_mater
stanford university st petersburg , russia russian ethnomusicology , 22 february 1936 the notions of melosphere and homo musicus san francisco fumio koizumi prize for ethnomusicology -lrb- 2011 -rrb- izaly zemtsovsky
 izaly zemtsovsky leningrad conservatory
izaly zemtsovsky

izaly iosifovich zemtsovsky -lrb- ; born february 22 , 1936 in st petersburg , russia -rrb- is a russian-born american ethnomusicologist .
he is a visiting professor at stanford university .
zemtsovsky is known in ethnomusicology for his wide range of subjects of study , including the theory of melodic formulas , rhythmic formulas , comparative research of various regions of the world , study of musical universals and the importance of musical data in ethno-genetic reconstructions .
zemtsovsky proposed the notions of `` melosphere '' , `` homo musicus '' , and proposed a new scholarly discipline , ethnogeomusicology , and a new research approach , known as `` historical morphology of the folk song '' .
zemtsovsky has been a lifelong advocate of russian soviet musicologist boris asafiev 's `` intonation theory '' and contributed to its use at european and american universities .
he has lived in the us since 1994 , teaching first at ucla , then at the university of wisconsin at madison , wisconsin , berkeley , and now at stanford university .
zemtsovsky graduated from leningrad conservatory with degrees in ethnomusicology and composition , and graduated leningrad university as a folklorist and linguist .
in the 1970s-1990s , zemtsovsky was widely regarded as a key figure of russian -lrb- and soviet -rrb- ethnomusicology .
as a prolific teacher -lrb- for several decades he was a professor at the leningrad state institute of theatre , music and cinema -rrb- , he affected the formation of russian and other ethnic schools of musicologists in former soviet union -lrb- including baltic , caucasian , and central asian republics , from the 1990s -- independent states -rrb- and countries of the eastern europe .
he maintains professional contacts with russia .
zemtsovsky is married to alma kunanbaeva , a kazakh ethnomusicologist .
zemtsovsky is the author of over 20 books and over 500 articles on numerous european and asian languages .
from 2006 , zemtsovsky is the director -lrb- and founder -rrb- of silk road house , a non-profit organization focused on the culture of the silk road , in berkeley , california .
in 2011 in recognition of his research activity and prolific teaching zemtsovsky was awarded the fumio koizumi prize for ethnomusicology .
