Ukrainian Soviet choirmaster, composer, teacher. Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR since 1957.
Biography.
He was born on December 29, 1899 (January 10, 1900) in Korostyshiv (now Zhytomyr region, Ukraine).
In 1919-1922 he served in the army.
In 1927, he graduated from the Kharkiv Music and Drama Institute (composition class of S. Bohatyriov and V. Zolotariev).
In 1927-1929, he was a musical director, conductor, and composer at the Veselyi Proletar Theater.
1929-1941 - organizer and director of the Jewish Choral Chapel at the Kharkiv Philharmonic, at the same time a composer and conductor of the Gezkult Theater.
In 1938-1940 he was a member of the Board of the Union of Composers of Ukraine.
Co-author of the Anthem of the Ukrainian SSR (1947).
In 1942-1965, he was the artistic director of the amateur labor reserves in Tashkent (during the evacuation) and Kharkiv, with whose choir he participated in the World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow in 1957.
In 1929-1966, he taught at the Kharkiv Music and Drama Institute (from 1934 - Kharkiv State Conservatory, from 1963 - Institute of Arts), in 1936-1941 - the head of the Opera Studio and in 1939-1962 - the Conservatory Choir, from 1940 - associate professor, from 1947 - acting professor, in 1949-1950 - head of the Department of Choral Conducting, from 1956 - professor.
Among his students were E. Konoplyova, E. Miroshnychenko, O. Petrosyan, N. Babich.
He died in Kharkiv on June 23, 1966.
Creative work
In the repertoire:
operettas - "The Sign of Zorro" (1926), "Blue Rocks" (1937), "The Daring Girl" (1940-1941);
a quintet on Jewish themes (1927);
Suite on Korean songs (1936);
musical comedy "Happy Start" (1950);
choruses to the words of Taras Shevchenko, Alexander Pushkin, I. Muratov, Sholem Aleichem, and S. Yesenin;
mass songs;
music for theatrical performances;
arrangements of folk songs for choir.
In 1947, he participated in a group led by A. Lebedynets to create music for the Anthem of the Ukrainian SSR based on the words of M. Bazhan and P. Tychyna.
He worked on Ukrainian and Jewish folklore.
