Mykola Stepanovych Zharko (born 5 February 1947, Vashkivtsi, Sokyryany district, Chernivtsi region, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian musician, conductor, musicologist.
Biography.
He studied at a music school, graduated from the Chernivtsi Music College, and the Military Conducting Faculty of the Moscow State Conservatory. He began his professional service as a military conductor of a unit in the Urals near Sverdlovsk with the rank of lieutenant, where he served for thirteen years. Then he spent ten years in Sverdlovsk, was later transferred to Dnipropetrovs'k, and after graduating with honours from postgraduate studies in Moscow, he was given the right to choose his place of further service: Moscow, Leningrad, Minsk. He was attracted by the "blue-eyed beauty" of Belarus. In Minsk, he led the orchestra of the so-called Belpolka, and in 1989, the band won first place at the All-Union competition in Moscow. Vytdak created and headed the military orchestra service of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, and later turned it from a regimental orchestra into an exemplary orchestra of the Internal Troops. After retirement, Colonel Zharko worked at the Belarusian State University of Culture as a senior lecturer and head of the brass instruments department.
Awards.
The orchestra in Sverdlovsk, led by M. Zharko, became the winner of the All-Union competitions of military orchestras in Moscow three times. In Belarus, the band represented the republic at international festivals alongside military bands from France, Holland, England, Spain, and the United States. Later, the youth student brass and percussion orchestra Svichok, led by him, performed at various international festivals: in Ukraine, in the city of Rivne, they became laureates, and in 2007 they also won a prize at the Minsk Kaleidoscope festival. In 2008, the orchestra toured France, where M.S. Zharko was awarded the title of honorary citizen of the city of Bichouc.
