Oleksandr Ivanovych Bilash (6 March 19316 May 2003) was a Soviet and Ukrainian composer and the author of popular lyric songs, ballads, operas, operettas, oratorios and music for films. Laureate of the

Shevchenko National Prize Shevchenko National Prize (; also ''Shevchenko Award'') is the highest state prize of Ukraine for works of culture and arts awarded since 1961. It is named after the inspirer of Ukrainian national revival Taras Shevchenko. It is one of the five ...

(1975),

People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR People's Artist of Ukraine () is an honorary title awarded by the government of Ukraine. It is the highest title awarded to outstanding performing artists whose merits are exceptional in the sphere of the development of the performing arts, inc ...

(1977),

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный арти ...

(1990),

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

(2001).

Biography

Bilash was born on 6 March 1931 in the town of

Hradyzk Hradyzk () is a Populated places in Ukraine#Rural settlements, rural settlement in Kremenchuk Raion of Poltava Oblast of Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Hradyzk settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: Hradyzk is a ...

, Ukraine (now

Kremenchuk Raion Kremenchuk Raion () is a raion (district) in Poltava Oblast, central Ukraine. The raion's administrative center is the city of Kremenchuk. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Polt ...

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

, Ukraine) to a family of skilled amateur musicians. His father, Ivan Panasovych Bilash, played

balalaika The balalaika (, ) is a Russian string instrument, stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck, and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the third string is a perf ...

and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

; his mother, Yevdokiya Andriyivna, was a solo singer at rural gatherings. After studying for a year in the Kyiv music school for adults, Oleksandr traveled to the city of

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

where he entered the second year of the Viktor Kosenko Music School. In 1951, Bilash had successfully passed the entrance examinations for entry into the faculty of Composition of the

Kyiv Conservatory The Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music (), formerly Kyiv Conservatory, is a national music tertiary academy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Its courses include postgraduate education. History The Kyiv Conservatory was founded on 3 November 1913 at ...

. He studied composition with the outstanding Ukrainian composer and teaching professor

Mykola Vilinsky Mykola Mykolayovych Vilinsky (; 14 May 18889 September 1956) was a Soviet and Ukrainian composer who held senior chairs at the Odesa Conservatory and later the Kyiv Conservatory. He wrote articles on Ukrainian and Moldovan music, and was a mus ...

. Oleksandr Bilash graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory in 1957. From 1956–1961 Bilash worked as an Instructor of music theory at the Kyiv Pedagogical Institute (Kyiv Teachers Training Institute, now

Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University () is a higher education institution. The university was established by Kyiv municipal council through reorganization of Kyiv regional Teachers Training Institute named after Borys Hrinchenko. The ...

). Already Bilash had emerged as a pre-eminent and prolific Ukrainian composer who had contributed immensely to variety of musical genres and styles. Many of his lyric songs became very popular in Ukraine. His lyric songs have become a part of the 'golden fund' of Ukrainian national culture and many of them are often perceived as traditional folk songs. He composed the opera "Haydamaky" (1965), "The Ballad of War" (1971), "The Grooms" (1985), operetta "The Legend of Kyiv", "The Bells of Russia". Bilash opposed the soundtrack to numerous movies. One of them - "Roman and Francesca" (1960) with the celebrated lyric songs by Bilash was the first Soviet film (musical) where love between a Soviet

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

and a foreign girl was not criminalized. At the time of Chernobyl nuclear accident in April 1986, the popular lyric song "Dva kolyory" (Two colors) composed by Oleksandr Bilash sounded like a revelation. From 1976 to 1994 Bilash served as the Chairman of the Kyiv branch of the Union of Composers of Ukraine. Oleksandr Bilash was one of the most highly regarded Ukrainian composers and his creative output was highly praised. Among others, Bilash received the State

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

Award (1975), titles of People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1977) and People's Artist of the USSR (1990). In March 2001, the honorable title of the

(the highest State degree of recognition in Ukraine) was bestowed upon him for his 'outstanding personal contribution to the enrichment of the spiritual treasures of the Ukrainian people and many years of fruitful creative activity' (6 March 2001). His wife was famous Ukrainian singer Larysa Ostapenko-Bilash (1935–2010) with whom he had two daughters Lesya and Oksana. Oleksandr Bilash died on 6 May 2003 in Kyiv. He was buried at the

Baikove Cemetery Baikove Cemetery () is a historic cemetery memorial in Holosiivskyi District of Kyiv, Ukraine. It is a National Historic Monument of Ukraine and is known as a necropolis of distinguished people. History The cemetery was established in 1833 a ...

in Kyiv, the burial place of the Ukrainian elite.Oleksandr Bilash tomb, Baikove Cemetery
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External links

Notes

References

Oleksandr Bilash / I. Nemyrovych. Kyïv : Muzychna Ukraïna, 1979.
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Oleksandr Bilash in New York Public Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilash, Oleksandr 1931 births 2003 deaths People from Poltava Oblast Kyiv Conservatory alumni People's Artists of the USSR Recipients of the Lenin Komsomol Prize Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of State Recipients of the Shevchenko National Prize Ukrainian composers Ukrainian opera composers Burials at Baikove Cemetery