Yakiv Ivanovych Orlov (born 17 May 1923 - died 1981) was a Ukrainian Soviet composer, conductor, teacher, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR.
He was born in Ternuvata, Dnipro region. In 1954, he graduated from the Tchaikovsky Kyiv Conservatory (class of M. Verikovsky). He was a participant of the Second World War. In 1955-1967 he conducted an army ensemble, in 1956-1966 he led the orchestral group of the State Ukrainian Folk Choir. In 1967-69, he again conducted the military orchestra. In 1969-1981, he was the artistic director and chief conductor of the Ukrainian Folk Instruments Orchestra of the Ukrainian State Theatre of the Moscow Art Theatre of the USSR. In 1980-1981, he taught at the Gorky Pedagogical Institute in Kyiv. Y. Orlov was the author of original compositions and arrangements of folk epics for the Ukrainian folk instruments orchestra and folk instrumental ensembles.
He died tragically in the summer of 1981 in Kyiv.
