Yury Saulsky

Yury Saulsky was a Soviet and Russian composer and conductor. He was also the author of ballets and musicals, as well as songs and music for television productions and films. He was born in Moscow on October 23, 1928, and later received the title People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1990.

Saulsky was born into the family of the lawyer Sergey Saulsky and Yekaterina Saulskaya, who sang in the Russian Choir under Sveshnikov. In his youth he played piano, accordion, and French horn. From 1945 to 1949 he studied at the Music College attached to the Moscow Conservatory in the French horn class, and in 1954 he graduated from the theory and composition faculty of the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied theory with I. V. Sposobin and composition with S. S. Bogatyryov.

While still at the conservatory, Saulsky wrote his first song, “The Iron Will of the People,” to words by V. Frolov; in 1949 it won second prize in an internal conservatory competition. In 1954 and 1955 he was musical director of Dmitry Pokrass's variety orchestra, and from 1955 to 1957 he served as musical director of the celebrated orchestra of Eddie Rosner, one of the country's leading jazz ensembles. In 1957 he led the youth big band TsDRI in Moscow, whose members included several musicians who later became well known. The orchestra won a silver medal at the jazz competition of the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, and the festival itself closed with Saulsky's song “Farewell,” performed by K. Lazarenko.

From 1961 to 1962 he was conductor of the orchestra of the Moscow Music Hall. Between 1966 and 1970 he led the Moscow vocal-instrumental jazz orchestra VIO-66, which performed at many domestic jazz festivals and released a record on Melodiya. After leaving the orchestra in 1970, Saulsky largely gave up conducting except for his own author concerts and concentrated on composition, especially instrumental music, popular music, jazz, and song.

Among his best-known songs were “Black Cat,” “Everything Faster,” “Endless Explanation,” “Spring Dripping,” “Happy Lullaby,” “Yenisey Trollius,” “Little Staircase,” the song cycle from the Mossovet Theatre production “Through the Eyes of a Clown,” “Poplar Fluff,” “Snowflake,” the song cycle from the film “Sun, Sun Again,” and the widely popular “Tatyana's Day.” His songs were performed by many leading Soviet and Russian popular singers and ensembles. Alongside his songs, he wrote instrumental works including “Solo for Percussion,” fantasies on themes by Isaac Dunayevsky and Charlie Chaplin, “Capriccio for Four Saxophones,” “Mist over Tallinn,” the dance suite “Summer,” “Acquaintance with the Orchestra,” “Elegy,” “Lively Conversation,” “Road to Gagra,” and the suite “That Good Old Jazz.”

Saulsky wrote music for more than 20 stage productions and more than 50 films. He also composed the theme for the television game KVN, “On the Appointed Day, at the Appointed Hour.” Among his larger stage works were the ballets “The Lady from Valencia” and “Theatre,” and the musical “Little C.” based on Hoffmann. In the early 1970s he served on the jury of the popular television contest “Hello, We Are Looking for Talents!” In 1980 he was a jury member at one of the first rock festivals, Spring Rhythms, Tbilisi-80.

In the 1990s, as president of the International Jazz Engagement, Saulsky organized international jazz festivals in Moscow, later held annually in the open air at the Hermitage Garden, as well as festivals in Sochi, Orenburg, and Minsk. Together with the Ministry of Defense he organized the All-Russian Festival of Army Big Bands in 1995. From 1995 to 2003 he chaired the jury of the Yesenin competition for young composers of Russia, “Rowan Dreams,” which in 2002 received a grant from the President of the Russian Federation as a project of nationwide importance in culture and art.

Saulsky was honored as Merited Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1978, received the Order of Friendship of Peoples in 1986, became People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1990, was awarded the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, 4th class, in 1998, and received the Prize of the President of the Russian Federation in literature and the arts in 1999. He died in Moscow on August 28, 2003, following complications after an operation to remove a tumor from his neck, and was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery.