Oleksandr Abramovych Zhuk (b. November 5, 1907, Poltava - d. October 31, 1995, Kharkiv) was a Ukrainian composer, conductor, music teacher; member of the Union of Composers of Ukraine since 1938. Brother of violinist Isak Zhuk.
He was born on October 23 [November 5], 1907 in Poltava (now Ukraine). In 1936, he graduated from the historical and theoretical faculty of the Kharkiv Conservatory, and in 1938 from the composition class of Mykhailo Tits. In 1937-1941, he taught at the Kharkiv Music School and the Kharkiv Conservatory. In 1939-1941, he was also a member of the board of the Kharkiv organization of the Union of Composers of Ukraine. From 1941 to 1944, he was the head of the musical department and conductor of the Taras Shevchenko Russian Drama Theater in Leninogorsk, Kazakh SSR.
In 1944-1967, he again taught at the Kharkiv Music School, and in 1950-1954 he was the head of the Department of Music Theory at the Kharkiv Theater Institute; from 1961 he was a lecturer, and in 1964-1969 he was the head of the Department of Music Theory and Piano at the Kharkiv Institute of Culture. In 1970-1974, he headed the audit committee of the Kharkiv organization of the Union of Composers of Ukraine.
He died in Kharkiv on October 31, 1995.
Among his works:
vocal and symphonic poem "Sailor Zheleznyak" (1935, words by M. Holodnyi);
Symphony (1938) for symphony orchestra;
for chamber orchestra - Symphonie (1992);
for piano and orchestra - Concerto (1957);
for violin and orchestra - Rondo Fantasy (1939), Concerto (1982);
for orchestra of folk instruments - "Festive Overture" (1954), "Ukrainian Fantasy" (1971);
chamber instrumental - 2 String Quartets (1935, 1959), Piano Trio (1947), Piano Quintet (1972);
for piano - Suite (1950), 3 Poems (1950, 1956, 1970), 3 Concert Etudes (1961), Ukrainian Rhapsody (1963), Heroic Sonata (1965);
for violin and piano - "Aria" (1936), "Poem" (1949), "Humoresque" (1956);
for cello - "Intermezzo" (1965), 2 Concert Pieces (1994);
choirs, romances;
music for theater performances.
He is the author of music for the comedies "Fooled" by Marko Kropyvnytskyi (1942) and "The Sea Stretches Wide" by Vsevolod Azarov, Vsevolod Vyshnevskyi, and Oleksandr Kron (1943), and one of the creators of the music for the anthem of the Ukrainian SSR (1947).
