Buketoff was born in
Hartford, Connecticut on 29 May 1915, the son of a
Russian Orthodox priest. He liked to refer to himself as "the last active conductor with pre-Revolutionary blood in his veins". His father knew
Sergei Rachmaninoff and had been asked by the composer to assemble the choir for the 1927 world premiere of his
Three Russian Folk Songs, Op. 41, using the
basso profundos among the Orthodox clergy. Igor attended the rehearsals for the premiere and was told by his father that the conductor,
Leopold Stokowski, had his own ideas about the tempo for the final song and refused to obey Rachmaninoff's wishes. He directed the choral departments at Juilliard and
Adelphi College. The organization is now called the International Contemporary Music Exchange and is managed by the
International Rostrum of Composers. He won the Ditson Award again in 1967. With that organisation he also led the U.S. premieres of
Carl Nielsen's
Maskarade and
Werner Egk's
Betrothal in San Domingo. Igor Buketoff orchestrated Act I of Rachmaninoff's unfinished opera
Monna Vanna, which was premiered in a concert performance at
Saratoga Springs, New York, on 11 August 1984, with the
Philadelphia Orchestra. Rachmaninoff had written this act in piano score, as well as some uncompleted sketches for Act II. The soloists were
Sherrill Milnes and
Tatiana Troyanos. He also prepared a version of
Delius's opera
A Village Romeo and Juliet, with reduced orchestration. The Los Angeles Conservatory awarded him an Honorary Doctorate. In his later years Igor Buketoff lived in
Manhattan. He didn't follow the Eastern Orthodox tradition of his family; he was a lifetime member at
St. James' Episcopal Church (New York City). He died in
the Bronx on 7 September 2001, aged 86, survived by his wife and a daughter. ==Recordings==