Yuri Milyutin was a Soviet composer. He was born in Moscow on April 18, 1903; his full name was Yuri (Georgy) Sergeyevich Milyutin. He completed the Voskresensky Moscow Real School in 1918 and studied music at V. K. Kossovsky’s courses from 1917 to 1919. He also trained as an actor and performed at several Moscow theaters in the early 1920s.
In 1924–1925, Milyutin worked as a composer and pianist with the Blue Blouse variety troupe. He wrote songs and dance music for variety theaters and cabarets, and his first operetta, A Ballerina of the Imperial Theaters, was staged in Moscow in 1924. From 1929 to 1932 he worked as a silent-film pianist and led music departments at several theaters, composing for their productions. He studied composition at the Moscow Regional Music College from 1930 to 1934 with S. N. Vasilenko and A. V. Alexandrov.
Milyutin became widely known for songs including “The Death of Chapaev,” “The Seagull,” “The Blue Envelope,” “Lilac and Bird Cherry,” “Lenin Hills,” “Naval Guard,” and “Blue-Eyed Girl.” During World War II, he performed with concert groups at military units near the front and in hospitals, and wrote music for military ensembles and choirs. From 1945, he focused mainly on operetta. His best-known works in the genre include Maiden’s Uproar, Trembita, Chanita’s Kiss, and The Circus Lights Up. His operettas were also staged in Leipzig, Budapest, Bucharest, Prague, Brno, and Sofia. They often drew on Russian, Hutsul, and Latin American folk elements.
Milyutin was named an Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1953 and a People’s Artist of the RSFSR in 1964. He received the second-class Stalin Prize in 1949 for “Lenin Hills,” “Lilac and Bird Cherry,” and “Naval Guard.” He died in Moscow on June 9, 1968, and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.