Vasyl Vasylovych Petrus (* 2 May 1921, Odesa - 16 July 1992) was a Ukrainian conductor, clarinetist, saxophonist (tenor). People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1976).
Biography.
As a child, he studied clarinet privately. He worked in the Kharkiv Theatrical Theatre of the Central Committee of Railwaymen of the South - in 1938-1940 - as a clarinetist and saxophonist.
1940 - in the jazz orchestra of Oleksandr Volodarsky, 1940-1946 - leader of military orchestras. 1945 - in the jazz orchestra of the Kyiv Military School of Communications. In 1946, he became an artist of the State Jazz Orchestra of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1946-1948, he led the jazz orchestra of the Komsomolets Ukraine cinema, and at that time he starred with the band in the film The Feat of a Scout (1947, directed by Borys Barnet).
In 1951, he graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory with a degree in clarinet. In the 1950s, he worked as a conductor in the KPI Institute Jazz Club.
In 1956-1985, he worked as the chief conductor of the Kyiv Circus Orchestra.
In 1968-1972, he recorded with this group on the Ukrainian Radio, including the famous "Roses" (Rostyslav Bratun / Anatolii Kos-Anatolskyi).
The orchestra under his direction accompanied the recordings of Volodymyr Ivasyuk's songs "I'll Go to the Far Mountains" (1971), "Echo of Your Steps", "Tale of the Mountains" (1972).
As a conductor, he toured with various jazz bands in Australia, Argentina, Great Britain, Iran, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, and Japan. At the request of the USSR State Television and Radio Agency, the Ekran creative association made the TV film Circus Conductor.
