Ilya Arkadiyovych Vilenskyi (born 2 (14) March 1896, Kremenchuk, Poltava Province, Russian Empire - 28 June 1973, Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR) was a Ukrainian composer, musician and public figure. Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1938), Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1947).
He was born in Kremenchuk.
From 1914 to 1918, he studied at the Petrograd Conservatory, composition class with Vasyl Kalafati, piano class with Oleksandr Winkler.
He was one of the initiators of the Kyiv Philharmonic, the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, the Young Spectator Theater, the 3rd Music Vocational School in Kyiv, and the Red Army Theater in Kharkiv.
Artistic director of the Dance Ensemble of Ukraine (1937-1941).
He was the head of the military patronage commission of the Union of Composers of Ukraine.
Descendants
Konstantyn Vilenskyi, grandson, is a composer, classical and jazz pianist virtuoso. Until the early 1990s, he worked and lived in Kyiv, then moved to Poland.
His works
He is the author of orchestral and instrumental works, choirs, songs, children's operas, and musical comedies.
He also wrote music for films:
"The Pest (1929, directed by K. Bolotov, VUFKU, Kyiv)
"Transbalt (1930, directed by M. Bilynsky, Ukrainfilm, Kyiv)
"Dress Rehearsal (1931, directed by M. Bilynsky, Ukrainfilm, Kyiv).
"Height No. 5 (1932, together with I. Belza, directed by F. Lopatinsky, Ukrainfilm, Kyiv). The film was never released.
"Shelmenko-Denshchik" (1957, songs based on poems by H. Plotkin, directed by V. Ivanov. Kyiv Dovzhenko Feature Film Studio.
TV movie "A Simple Thing" (1958, author of the music).
He is the author of children's operas "Horbokonik" (1936), "Ivasyk-Telesyk" (1971), ballet "Harvest Festival" (together with V. Rozhdestvensky, 1948), musical comedies "Sorochynska Fair" (1935), "Years of Youth" (1958), "Shelmenko the Day Laborer" (1962). He composed orchestral, instrumental, vocal and choral works, songs ("Tanzilvan Waltz").
