Oleksandr Bilash

Oleksandr Bilash was a Ukrainian and Soviet composer, pedagogue, poet, and public figure. He was born on 6 March 1931 in Hradyzk, Poltava region, in a musical family: his mother Yevdokiia was regarded as the leading singer at village gatherings, while his father Ivan played the balalaika and guitar. He became one of the best-known Ukrainian song composers and was later awarded the titles People's Artist of the USSR and Hero of Ukraine.

In 1946 he attempted to enter the Poltava Music College, but according to some accounts was not admitted because of an alleged lack of musical ear. He then studied for a year at the Kyiv evening music school, where Georgii and Platon Maiboroda taught. During this difficult period he unloaded railway wagons, worked in schools, and played in restaurants. From 1948 to 1952 he studied at the Zhytomyr Music College named after V. S. Kosenko, and in 1957 he graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory, now the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, where he studied composition with N. N. Vilinsky.

From 1956 to 1961 Bilash taught music theory at the Kyiv Pedagogical Institute named after M. Gorky. He became especially famous as the author of about 500 songs, but his output also included romances, ballads, operas, operettas, oratorios, and music for films. He also published nine poetry collections, among them Melodiia (1977), Mamyne krylo (1999), and Shuras (2001).

Among his stage and concert works are the opera Haidamaky after Taras Shevchenko's poem, the mono-opera Ballad of War, the mono-opera Confession of the White Tulip, the works City of Lovers, Legend of Kyiv, Bells of Russia, the musical The Adventures of Buratino, the ballet suite Buratino, the symphonic poem Pavel Korchagin, the vocal work Vocalise for mezzo-soprano, and two concertos written in 1982–1983. His songs became especially popular, including Two Colors, Lelechenky, Yaseny, and many others on texts by leading Ukrainian poets as well as his own verses.

Bilash also composed for cinema. His film credits include Roman and Francesca, The Seym Overflows Its Banks, Only the Statues Are Silent, A Bag Full of Hearts, And Now Judge..., On the Kyiv Direction, Kyiv Melodies, Dangerous Tours, Devil's Dozen, Between High Breads, Lada from the Land of the Berendei, Here We Shall Live, A Tale of a Woman, Time Is Moscow Time, and The Tale of Chuhaister. A romance from the film Dangerous Tours was performed by Vladimir Vysotsky.

He was active in Soviet and Ukrainian cultural life as an organizer and administrator. From 1968 he served as deputy chairman of the board of the Union of Composers of the Ukrainian SSR, and from 1976 to 1994 he was chairman of the board of the Kyiv organization of that union. He was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, from 1992 a member of the Committee for the T. Shevchenko State Prizes of Ukraine under the Cabinet of Ministers, and from 2000 a member of the Writers' Union of Ukraine.

His honors included the Lenin Komsomol Prize of the Ukrainian SSR, the Lenin Komsomol Prize, Honored Art Worker of the Ukrainian SSR, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, the T. H. Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, the Order of Friendship of Peoples, People's Artist of the USSR, and Hero of Ukraine. During the Chornobyl disaster, the melody of his song Two Colors was remembered as sounding like a revelation.

Oleksandr Bilash died in Kyiv on 6 May 2003 after a stroke and was buried at Baikove Cemetery. His wife was Larisa Ostapenko, an opera singer. They had two daughters, Oksana and Olesia.

Connections

This figure has 1 connection in the Music Lineage catalog.