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- Music Department
- Composer
- Producer
Dimitri Tiomkin was a Russian Jewish composer who emigrated to America and became one of the most distinguished and best-loved music writers of Hollywood. He won a hallowed place in the pantheon of the most successful and productive composers in American film history, earning himself four Oscars and sixteen Academy Awards nominations. He was born Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin on May 10, 1894, in Kremenchug, Russia. His mother, Marie (nee Tartakovsky), was a Russian pianist and teacher. His father, Zinovi Tiomkin, was a renowned medical doctor. His uncle, rabbi Vladimir Tiomkin, was the first President of the World Zionist Union. Young Dimitri began his music studies under the tutelage of his mother. Then, at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he studied piano under Felix Blumenfeld and Isabelle Vengerova. He also studied composition under the conservatory's director, Aleksandr Glazunov, who appreciated Tiomkin's talent and hired him as a piano tutor for his niece. Soon Dimitri appeared on Russian stages as a child pianist prodigy and continued to develop into a virtuoso pianist. Like other intellectuals in St. Petersburg, Tiomkin frequented the club near the Opera, called Stray Dog Café, where Russian celebrities, including directors Vsevolod Meyerhold and Nicolas Evreinoff, writers Boris Pasternak, Aleksei Tolstoy, Sergei Esenin, Anna Akhmatova, Nikolai Gumilev and Vladimir Mayakovsky, had their bohemian hangout. There Tiomlkin could be seen with his two friends, composer Sergei Prokofiev and choreographer Mikhail Fokin. At that time he also gained exposure and a keen interest in American music, including the works of Irving Berlin, ragtime, blues, and early jazz. Tiomkin started his music career as a piano accompanist for Russian and French silent films in movie houses of St. Petersburg. When the famous comedian Max Linder toured in Russia, he hired Tiomkin to play piano improvisations for the Max Linder Show, and their collaboration was successful. He also provided classical piano accompaniment for the famous ballerina Tamara Karsavina. However, the 1917 Communist Revolution in Russia caused dramatic political and economic changes. From 1917 to 1921 Tiomkin was a Red Army staff composer, writing scores for revolutionary mass spectacles at the Palace Square involving 500 musicians and 8000 extras, such as "The Storming of the Winter Palace" staged by Vsevolod Meyerhold and Nikolai Yevreinov for the third anniversary of the Communist Revolution. In 1921 Tiomkin emigrated from Russia and moved to Berlin to join his father, who was working with the famous German biochemist Paul Ehrlich. In Berlin Tiomkin had several study sessions with Ferruccio Busoni and his circle. By 1922 Dimitri was well known for his concert appearances in Germany, often with the Berlin Philharmonic. Among his repertoire were pieces written for him by other composers. He also concertized in France. There, in Paris, Feodor Chaliapin Sr. convinced Tiomkin to emigrate to the United States. In 1925 Tiomkin got his first gig in New York: he became the main pianist for a Broadway dance studio. There he met and soon married the principal dancer/choreographer, Albertina Rasch. He also met composers George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern. In 1928 Tiomkin made a concert tour of Europe, introducing the works of Gershwin to audiences there. He gave the French premiere of Gershwin's "Piano Concerto in F" at the famed "L'Opera de Paris." His Hollywood debut came in 1929, when MGM offered him a contract to score music for five films. His wife got a position as an assistant choreographer for some musical films. He also scored a Universal Pictures film, performed concerts in New York City and continued composing ballet music for his wife's dance work. He also continued writing American popular music and songs. He received further Broadway exposure with the Shuberts and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.. He produced his own play "Keeping Expenses Down," but it was a flop amidst the gloom of the Big Depression, and he once again returned to Hollywood in 1933. When he came back he was on his own. By that time Tiomkin was disillusioned with the intrigue and politics inside the Hollywood studio system. He already knew the true value of his musical talent, and chose to freelance with the studios rather than accepting a multi-picture contract. He became something of a crusader, pushing for better pay and residuals. His independent personality was reflected in his music and business life: he was never under a long-term studio contract. Though MGM was the first to be acquainted with his services, Tiomkin next turned to Paramount for Alice in Wonderland (1933), another fine example of making music that he liked. Hollywood's most prominent independent composer, Tiomkin, thanks to his free-agent status, negotiated contractual terms to his benefit, which in turn benefited other musicians. He aggressively sought music publishing rights and formed his own ASCAP music publishing company, Volta Music Corporation, while remaining faithful to France-based performing rights organization SACEM. In Tiomkin's own words: "My fight is for dignity. Not only for composer, but for all artists responsible for picture." He also fought for employing qualified musicians regardless of their race. As a composer classically trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Tiomkin was highly skilled in orchestral arrangements with complex brass and strings, but he was also thoroughly versed in the musical subtleties of America and integrated it into traditional European forms. His interest in the musical form resulted in his next score, for the operetta Naughty Marietta (1935), a popular musical that teamed Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. He also did his fair share of stock music arranging. Among his most successful partnerships was that with director Frank Capra, starting with Lost Horizon (1937), where Tiomkin used many innovative ideas, and received his first Academy Award nomination. The association with Capra lasted through four more famous films, culminating with It's a Wonderful Life (1946). In 1937 Tiomkin became a naturalized American citizen. The next year he made his public conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. During the WWII years he wrote music for 12 military documentaries, earning himself a special decoration from the US Department of Defense. After the war he ventured into all styles of music for movies, ranging from mystery and horror to adventure and drama, such as his enchanting score, intricately worked around Claude Debussy's "Girl with the Flaxen Hair," for the haunting Portrait of Jennie (1948) and the energetic martial themes for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). He scored three films for Alfred Hitchcock, perhaps the most inventive being for the tension-building Strangers on a Train (1951) with its out-of-control carousel finale. He also worked with top directors in that exclusively American genre: the western. His loudest success was the original music for Duel in the Sun (1946) by King Vidor. For that film, Tiomkin wrote a lush orchestral score, trying to fulfill writer/producer David O. Selznick's request to "Make a theme for orgasm!" Tiomkin worked for several weeks, and composed a powerful theme culminating with 40 drummers. Selsnick was impressed, but commented: "This is not orgasm!" Tiomkin worked for one more month and delivered an even more powerful theme culminating with 100 voices. Selznick was impressed again, but commented: "This is not orgasm! This is not the way I f..k!" Tiomkin replied brilliantly, "Mister Selznick, you may f..k the way you want, but this is the way I f..k!" Selznick was convinced, and after that Tiomkin's music was fully accepted. In 1948 he wrote the score for one of the westerns with John Wayne, Red River (1948) by Howard Hawks. Wayne had Tiomkin's touch on five more movies into the 1960s. Tiomkin was adding a song to all of his scores, starting with the obscure Trail to Mexico (1946). The result was successful, and the western score with songs became Tiomkin's signature. Horns and lush string orchestral sound are most associated with Tiomkin's style, which culminated in The Unforgiven (1960) by John Huston, although he used the same approach in High Noon (1952) with the famous song "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'" and Howard Hawks' The Big Sky (1952). Most of his big-screen songs were written for westerns and totaled some 25 themes. The most songs he composed for one movie was six for Friendly Persuasion (1956). Tiomkin achieved dramatic effects by using his signature orchestral arrangements in such famous films as Giant (1956), The Old Man and the Sea (1958) and The Guns of Navarone (1961). He also wrote music and theme songs for several TV series, most notably for Clint Eastwood's Rawhide (1959). In 1967 his beloved wife, Albertina Rasch, passed away, and Tiomkin was emotionally devastated. Going back from his wife's funeral to his Hancock Park home in Los Angeles, he was attacked and beaten by a street gang. The crime caused him more pain, so upon recommendation of his doctor, Tiomkin moved to Europe for the rest of his life. In the 1960s Tiomkin produced Mackenna's Gold (1969) starring Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif. He also executive-produced and orchestrated the US/Russian co-production Tchaikovsky (1970), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for best music, and the movie was also nominated in the foreign language film category. Filming on locations in Russia allowed him to return to his homeland for the first time since 1921, which also was the last visit to his mother country. In 1972 Tiomkin married Olivia Cynthia Patch, a British aristocrat, and the couple settled in London. They also maintained a second home in Paris. For the rest of his life Tiomkin indulged himself in playing piano, a joy also shared by his wife. He died on November 11, 1979, in London, England, and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Glendale, California. In 1999 Dimitri Tiomkin was pictured on one of six 33¢ USA commemorative postage stamps in the Legends of American Music series, honoring Hollywood Composers. His music remains popular, and is continuously used in many new films, such as Inglourious Basterds (2009) by director Quentin Tarantino.- Actor
- Composer
- Writer
Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko, better known as his drag persona Verka Serduchka, is a Ukrainian comedian, actor, and singer. He represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 as Verka with the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai", finishing in second place. He has sold over 600,000 records. He has appeared in films, most notably a cameo as Verka in the American comedy film "Spy".- Nikolai (Mykola) Gogol was a Russian humorist, dramatist, and novelist of Ukrainian origin. His ancestors were bearing the name of Gogol-Janovsky and claimed belonging to the upper class Polish Szlachta. Gogol's father, a Ukrainian writer living on his old family estate, had five other children. He died when the Gogol was 15. Young Gogol was fond of the drama class at his high school in Nezhin, Ukraine. He was strongly influenced by his religious mother, as well as by the enchanting beauty of the Ukrainian folklore. He also called himself a "free Cossac".
At age 18 Gogol moved to St. Petersburg, became a student, and later a professor of history at the St. Petersburg University. His short stories, set in St. Petersburg, became a success. His play "Revizor" (1836, The Inspector General) had its premiere in St. Petersburg attended by the Tzar Nickolai I. But it also made him many powerful enemies who hated his satire on the corrupt Russian society. It was his friend Alexander Pushkin who suggested to him the subject for "Revizor". Pushkin also suggested the main idea of "The Dead Souls" (1842), a bitter satirical story of a crook, who was buying the names of dead surfs from various greedy landlords, for a tax-evasion scheme. In his other famous story "Shinel" (1842, The Overcoat) a poor clerk is intimidated both by thieves and by the government. Gogol's discontent against the slavery and social injustices in Russia caused him trouble. He escaped to Europe for 12 years, returning to Russia briefly to publish the 1st part of "The Dead Souls".
His religious beliefs were used by the State-controlled Orthodox Church to place guilt on him and to cause interruption of his literary work. In 1848 he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. After his return to Russia, he settled in Moscow, where he fell under the control of the fanatical Orthodox priest, Konstantinovskii, who demanded that Gogol quit writing and destroy the manuscript of the 2nd part of "The Dead Souls". Torn by his inner conflict with guilt and being under the pressure from the fanatical priest, Gogol burned his manuscript. He died nine days later in pain without having any food during his last days. In the 1931 excavation of his tomb, his body was found lying face down, which caused suspicion that Gogol was buried alive.
His style involves the elements of the fantastic and grotesque, with the taste for the macabre and absurd, following the tradition of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Fyodor Dostoevsky proclaimed, "We all came out from under his Overcoat", referring to Gogol's influence on Russian writers. Sometimes compared with Franz Kafka, Gogol had such followers, as Yevgeni Zamyatin, Vladimir Nabokov, and Mikhail A. Bulgakov. - Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Russian-born pianist and film composer Bert Shefter completed his training at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Damrosch Institute. He enjoyed his first success as half of the piano duo Shefter & Gould (with pianist Morton Gould), arranging and interpreting classical music, from "Flight of the Bumble-Bee" (1933) to "Fantaisie-impromptu" (1934). He later fronted his own orchestra, performing and recording (for Victor, Decca and Brunswick) classics and jazz on radio and for theatre, often highlighting his own compositions, with titles like "Tango in Tempo", "Traffic in Times Square" and "Twilight Serenade". After 1946, he was also a frequent guest conductor at Carnegie Hall.
In the early 1950's, Shefter turned his attention to motion pictures, working both as composer and orchestrator, at first for a small production company, Lippert Pictures Inc.. He became best known for his collaboration (1956-71) with fellow-composer Paul Sawtell on a series of low-budget science-fiction films, some of which have attained a cult following. In the early 60's, Shefter worked on several productions of 'master of disaster' Irwin Allen (notably the all-star fantasy Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)), before becoming music supervisor on a number of seminal western and crime television series, from Bourbon Street Beat (1959) and Hawaiian Eye (1959) to Maverick (1957) and Bronco (1958). He also composed the scores for a couple of Russ Meyer's exploitation pictures, before his retirement in the mid 1970's.- Zhanna Prokhorenko was born on 11 May, 1940, in Poltava, Ukraine, Soviet Union (now Poltava, Ukraine). Her father, Trofim Prokhorenko, an Air Force officer, was killed in WWII, when she was a one-year-old baby. She was brought up by single mother and went to school in Leningrad. Young Zhanna Prokhorenko studied acting at the acting studio of Leningrad Palace of Pioneers. There she was scouted by Moscow Art Theatre and moved to Moscow. At age nineteen, she was cast by director Grigoriy Chukhray in Ballad of a Soldier (1959) opposite Vladimir Ivashov. The movie won Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and Zhanna Prokhorenko shot to international fame. In 1960, she toured the USA presenting the film to American audiences. At that time, Moscow Art Theatre had a strict policy against stage actors who switch to movies, so Zhanna Prokhorenko was fired. She took the acting class of Sergey Gerasimov at Soviet State Institute of Cinema (VGIK), graduating in 1964 as film actress.
Zhanna Prokhorenko was married twice. Her first husband was director Evgeniy Vasilev and the couple had one daughter, Yekaterina Vasilyeva, and granddaughter, Maryana Spivak. Her second husband, writer Artur Makarov, was killed by burglars in her lavish Moscow apartment in 1995, while Zhanna Prokhorenko was away. The murderer was never found. Zhanna Prokhorenko suffered from depression and went into seclusion in a small village away from Moscow. She died of a chronic illness, on 1 August, 2011, in a Moscow hospital, and was laid to rest in Khovanskoe Cemetery in Moscow, Russia. - Director
- Writer
- Editor
Jensen Noen is an award-winning director known for his films The Perception (2018), Gambit (2017), Observer (2016). Jensen started his directing career in Europe as a music video and a commercial director. Jensen has moved over to the US with great success in the European market, working with top American artists and brands. Having a broad and versatile experience as a director Jensen transitioned into the film and the television world. His latest feature film, The Perception (2018), has already won awards for Best Feature Film, Best Feature Film Director, Best Thriller, and Best Screenplay on numerous film festivals. Jensen currently resides in Hollywood, California, and is represented by UnderWonder Content.- Ukrainian actor of theater and cinema, more than 30 works in film projects. "The Stronghold" and "Infernal khorugv or cossack Christmas" on Netflix Ukraine. "Dive" in the official selection at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. The best actor according to the Portuguese Film Festival "Avanca" for the film "The Forgotten".
- Sholom Aleichem (translated from Hebrew as a greeting "Peace be with you") was the pseudonym of Sholom Yakov Rabinovitz. He was born on February 18, 1859, in Pereyaslav near Kiev, Ukraine, in the Russian Empire. His father was a religious scholar and the family was trilingual. After his mother died of cholera, when he was only 12 years of age, his father encouraged his writing, even through the hard times. Young Sholom Aleichem attended a Russian secular high school, but never attended university. He was drafted into the Russian Army and upon being discharged became a rabineer for 3 years. Throughout his entire lifetime, he was not wealthy. He had a humble, modest disposition, a quiet voice, and was described by many as a man of great wisdom and wit. It was the humbling experience of his life in Russia under the Czars that led to his special style of "laughing through tears" humor.
Sholom Aleichem began serious writing in the 1880's. He was instrumental in the foundation of "di Yidishe folks bibliotek" (the popular Yiddish library) in 1888. At the same time during the 1880's Jews in Russia came under attack (known as "pogrom"); they suffered loss of property and of lives. In 1905 Sholom Aleichem fled from Russia. He lived in several countries of Europe until WWI. Large numbers of Jews were dislocated because their communities, known as "shetls, were destroyed. With the suffering came an increased cultural awakening of Jews, expressed in literature written in Yiddish. Yiddish was the every day language of European Jews, derived from Hogh German with enrichment from Hebrew, Russian, Polish, and English (among other languages). Sholom Aleichem wrote in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Russian; he was also fluent in Polish, Ukrainian and other languages.
From 1883 to 1916, Sholom Aleichem wrote about 40 volumes of stories, novels, and plays ; he became the leading writer in Yiddish, and one of the most prolific writers ever. He also wrote scholarly works in Hebrew and secular works in Russian, the only acceptable language of official publishers in the Russian Empire. His works about the life of Jews in traditional communities were based on real life stories and were published throughout Europe and in the United States. His best known work is "Tevye the Milkman" ("Tevye der milkhiker" in Yiddish). It describes the Russian Jewish milkman, who deals with the complex world with humor, pain, optimism, and wisdom. It was adapted for stage production as the play 'Fiddler on the Roof' which became a Broadway success. The eponymous film, starring 'Haim Topol', won three Oscars. A successful staging of the 'Fiddler on the Roof' was done at the Moscow Lenkom Theatre by director Mark Zakharov, starring Evgeniy Leonov and later Vladimir Steklov in the title role.
The dangers of WWI forced Sholom Aleichem to emigrate to America. He settled in the Bronx. The tragedy of separation from his son Misha, who suffered from tuberculosis, was unbearable. After Misha's death in 1915, Sholom Aleichem followed him on May 13, 1916 in Bronx. His funeral was attended by tens of thousands.
The great value of his works is in the meticulous literary preservation of the traditional life of a shtetl, before it disappeared in the tragic abyss of history. "You can take a Jew out of a shtetl, but you cannot take a shtetl out of a Jew", wrote Sholom Aleichem. - Actor
- Make-Up Department
- Director
Vladimir Gajdarov was born on 25 July 1893 in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was an actor and director, known for The Victors and the Vanquished (1949), Helen of Troy (1924) and Michel Strogoff (1926). He was married to Olga Gzovskaya. He died on 17 December 1976 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].- Vera Kholodnaya was born on 5 August 1893 in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. She was an actress, known for Her Sister's Rival (1916), Stolichnyi iad (1917) and Deti veka (1915). She was married to Vladimir Kholodny. She died on 17 February 1919 in Odessa, Ukraine.
- Vladimir Zamanskiy was born on 6 February 1926 in Kremenchug, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine]. He is an actor, known for Days of Eclipse (1988), Mournful Unconcern (1987) and Man Without a Passport (1966).
- Actor
- Composer
Vitaliy Gogunskiy was born on 14 July 1978 in Kremenchug, Poltava Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Kremenchuk, Ukraine]. He is an actor and composer, known for Telokhranitel - 2 (2009), Medvezhya okhota (2007) and Univer (2008). He has been married to Anna Gogunskaya since December 2012.- Stepan Shkurat was born on 8 January 1886 in Kobelyaki, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire [now Poltava Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Earth (1930), Viy (1967) and Natalka Poltavka (1936). He died on 26 February 1973 in Romny, Sumy Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine].
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Klara Luchko was a Soviet Russian and Ukrainian actress best known as Dasha, a Cossack woman in the popular movie Cossacks of the Kuban (1950) by director Ivan Pyrev.
She was born Klara Stepanovna Luchko on 1 July 1925, in a village near Poltava, Ukraine, Soviet Union, into a peasant family. Her father, Stepan Grigorievich, and mother, Anna Ivanovna, both worked for a Soviet collective farm. During WWII, young Luchko with her mother were evacuated to Central Asia, while her father was fighting in the front-lines against the Nazis. During the war time, Klara Luchko became obsessed with movies and acting, so in 1943, she came to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where the Soviet State Film Institute (VGIK) was evacuated during WWII. Although Luchko was exhausted, hungry and unprepared, she improvised brilliantly and passed the entrance exam with flying colors. She studied acting under Sergey Gerasimov, graduating in 1948 as actress. That same year she made her film debut as Marina in The Young Guard (1948) by director Sergei Gerasimov.
In 1951, Klara Luchko was awarded the State Stalin's Prize for her role in the popular movie Cossacks of the Kuban (1950) by director Ivan Pyrev. During the 50s, Klara Luchko was the official face of the Soviet film industry: she represented Mosfilm for the first time at the 1952 Cannes film festival. Later, Luchko and the ensemble of actresses in A Big Family (1954) won the Best Actress award at the 1955 Cannes film festival. She also was member of official Soviet delegations at various international events, such as, the Edinburgh festival and other show business events in the 50s. Her film career spanned over fifty five years and she worked with such directors, as Iosif Kheifits, Sergei Gerasimov, Yan Frid, Ivan Pyryev, Adolf Bergunker, Eldar Shengelaya, and other notable Russian directors.
Klara Luchko was designated People's Actress of the USSR and received other awards and decorations from the Soviet and Russian government. In 2000 she was named "Woman of the Millennium" and received a lifetime awards from the Russian Actors Guild. Klara Luchko was married twice and had a daughter. She was living in Moscow, Russia. She died of a heart failure at age 79, on 26 March, 2005, and was laid to rest in Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, Russia. A square in the Cossack town of Kurganinsk in the South of Russia, where she played her best known role as a Cossack woman, was named after Klara Luchko.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Nat Carr was born on 12 August 1886 in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was an actor and writer, known for The Talk of Hollywood (1929), 50 Million Frenchmen (1931) and Bank Alarm (1937). He was married to Gertrude Viola White. He died on 6 July 1944 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Tamara [Drasin], a native of Sorochintzy, in the Ukraine. Attended elementary school and Hunter College in New York City. After appearing in a 1927 revue called "The New Yorkers" (not the Cole Porter show) she played many Russian Restaurants in Manhattan, notably the Gypsy Tavern and the Kretchma. She also had brief appearances in Broadway shows such as "Crazy Quilt," "Americana" and "Free For All." Later she rose to fame in "Roberta," "Right This Way" and "Leave It to Me," in which she sang "Get Out Of Town." In 1936 she starred at New York's Versailles in a night club act. She was one of 24 casualties of a plane crash in the Tagus River, near Lisbon in March, 1943. Jane Froman survived. In private life was wife of Erwin D. Swann, vice president of Foote, Cone & Belding Ad Agency. Luther Adler delivered the eulogy at her service, attended by 500 mourners on 16 April 1943.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Galyna is an actress of music-drama theater and cinema. She graduated from Kyiv State University of Theater, Film and Television (In that time: Kiev State Institute of the Theatrical and Cinema Art) in July 1992. The study was by system of Konstantin Stanislavski (deep feeling school). Galyna has a Diploma of above mentioned University, from the master-class Leonid Olijnyk and Ada Rogovtseva. Galyna Kyyashko graduated together with Vitaliy Linetskiy. After University she had 6 years experience to work on the best channels of Ukraine as TV-presenter (news in Ukrainian and Russian languages),journalist and reporter, director of program for children, radio broadcaster. In the same time Galyna has been experienced in theatrical performance. She worked once together with Ruslana Pisanka for TV-program. From that time when Galyna Kyyashko came to Holland to follow the man she loves, she had work as an actress-model for photo and TV-advertisement, TV-programs, theater, films, movies. Last played theater performance's: "Misverstand" ("Misunderstanding", Theaterstichting Ooit NL, 2012 - 2015), "Before I Sleep" (Holland Festival NL, Dreamthinkspeak UK 2011), "Anders Samen" ("Different Together", Theaterstichting Ooit NL 2007 - 2013),"Theatertour" (Trias\Theaterfestival Leidschendam-Voorburg 2011), "In De Buurt" ("In The Region", Theaterstichting Ooit NL 2008).- Hanka Bielicka was a Polish actress and cabaret artist. She studied at the University of Warsaw and acting at the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw. Her debut was in 1939 at the Theatre Pohulance in Vilnius where she played during the war. She also began her adventure with cabaret art after the war. She performed in the cabarets "Szpak", "U Lopka", "U Kierdziolka" and in the program "Podwieczorek przy mikrofonie".
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Isaak Shvarts was a prominent Soviet and Russian composer of Jewish descent. Born in Ukraine (Soviet Union), his family soon moved to Leningrad (present day St. Petersburg) in 1930. By the age of 12 young Isaac has already given his major concert performance at Leningrad Philharmonic Hall. In 1936, during Stalin repressions, his father was arrested (later executed in 1938) and the family was sent in exile to Frunze (present day Bishkek), Kyrgyzstan. He got married in 1943 and had a daughter Galina. He remained in exile until 1945 and upon his return to St. Petersburg began his studies at the city's Conservatory. Graduating in 1951, he began his life-long career of a composer for stage plays and motion pictures. He composed music for over 35 various plays for theaters of Leningrad and Moscow and for over 110 motion pictures, working with well-known directors. He was Akira Kurosawa's choice in composing music for award winning Dersu Uzala (1975). His other notable works on motion pictures include White Sun of the Desert (1970), One Hundred Days After Childhood (1975), Young Catherine (1991), Luna Park (1992), Muzhchina dlya molodoy zhenshchiny (1996). He received several international and local awards and nominations at various festivals and was an Acedemician of the National Academy of Cinematographic Arts, Russia.- Valeriy Storozhik was born on 7 December 1956 in Kotelva, Poltava Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. He is an actor, known for Boris Godunov (1986), Posrednik (1990) and Repete (2000).
- Aleksandr Tairov was born Aleksandr Yakovlevich Korenblit on July 6, 1885, in Berdichev, Ukraine, Russian Empire. His father, named Yakov Korenblit, was the headmaster of primary school in Berdichev. At the age of 10 he moved to Kiev and settled with his aunt, a retired actress. She introduced him to theatre. He took part in amateur performances and assumed the name Tairov as a pseudonym. In 1904 he enrolled in the Law School at Kiev University, and married his cousin Olga the same year. In 1905 Tairov opposed the pogroms of Jews in Kiev and was arrested by the Tsar's police and imprisoned. His second arrest led him to a decision to move to St. Petersburg. He was invited by the famous Russian actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya and joined her theatre as an actor under directorship of Vsevolod Meyerhold. Tairov also continued his studies at the Law school of St. Petersburg University. There he started his life-long friendship with Anatoli Lunacharsky. At that time he collaborated with Vsevolod Meyerhold on a joint production of a play by Paul Claudel. Both directors were creating new experimental models for theatre in Russia.
Tairov created a prototype of his Chamber Theatre as "synthetic theatre" with high goals in mind. As director he experimented with staging, acting, individual and group movements, stage and costume designs, and worked with every detail of theatrical performance in order to brake away from the traditional theatre. He established ideal discipline at his Chamber Theatre. Tairov's experimental approach spread to all phases of creating a stage show including even the rehearsals and practice. He used the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Frédéric Chopin as a way of helping his actors achieve spiritual union in there scenes. In 1912 Tairov was invited to direct a play in collaboration with the Russian Drama Theatre in Riga. There he was once again attacked by the local anti-Semites and was banned by the local authorities from staying and working in the city of Riga. The conflict took two weeks to resolve. Tairov prevailed, he stayed and completed his work for the Russian Drama Theatre in Riga. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Tairov converted to Evangelic Lutheranism.
In 1913 Tairov moved to Moscow. There he joined a corporation of attorneys at law and could continue a comfortable career. Instead Tairov established himself as important anti-realist director. His Chamber Theatre became the center of experimental creativity for many Russian actors, artists, writers, and musicians. Tairov was the first director in Russia to stage the Three-Penny Opera by Bertolt Brecht. He staged plays of Valery Briusov, O'Neal, J.B. Pristley, Oscar Wilde, and other contemporary writers. Tairov collaborated with such artists as Alexandra Exter, Pavel Kuznetsov, Sergei Soudeikin, Mikhail Larionov, Natalya Goncharova, and others. Tairov's Acting Studio became extremely popular among aspiring actors such as Vera Karalli, Alisa Koonen, Evgeniy Lebedev, and others. He worked with composers Sergei Prokofiev, A. Aleksandrov, Georgi Sviridov, and Dmitri Kabalevsky.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Tairov continued his independent approach to theatre. His early productions were Salome by Oscar Wilde and Adrienne Lecouvrer, which became a legendary play and ran over 800 performances. Chamber Theatre remained very popular and toured across the Soviet Union. The Chamber Theatre's tours of Europe in 1923, and of South America in 1930 were critically acclaimed as "a total victory of the famous Russian innovator and a genius of staging." In 1929 Tairov produced 'Bagrovy Ostrov' (The Crimson Island) by Mikhail A. Bulgakov. At that time Joseph Stalin began his total control of culture and labeled the play bourgeois. That was enough for attacking Tairov in the Soviet media. His next production of 'Optimistic tragedy' was criticized by Vyacheslav Molotov as a slander of Russian history. Tairov tried to defend his theatre, he stated that theatres must be established on the level of research institutes. 'Pavlov has an institute on which millions are spent. Stanislavsky must have an institute too", said Tairov. As a punishment Tairov's Chamber Theatre was sent to work in Siberia.
In August of 1941 Tairov joined the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. It was formed by the group of leading intellectuals to campaign against the Nazis during the Second World War. The Committee was headed by Solomon Mikhoels. Along with Tairov other prominent members were Emil Gilels, David Oistrakh, Samuil Marshak, Ilja Ehrenburg, and many other leading intellectuals in the Soviet Union. The main driving force of the Committee was represented by the group of Yiddish writers such as Perets Markish, Lev Kvitko, David Gofstein, Itsik Fefer, David Bergelson, and others. The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee provided over 45 million rubles to the Soviet Red Army. After the end of the Second World War it was denounced by Joseph Stalin, and many of its members were executed by the Soviet secret service.
In 1946 the Communist Party launched attacks on intellectuals in the Soviet Union. Such leading cultural figures as Anna Akhmatova, Sergei Prokofiev, Aram Khachaturyan, Boris Pasternak, and many others suffered from censorship and severe repressions. Tairov's Chamber Theatre was attacked for having little to do with contemporary Soviet life. Tairov tried to make additions to repertoire and invited writer Aleksandr Galich, and young director Georgi Tovstonogov, but it was too late. Soviet Committee for Arts ordered in May of 1949, to close the theatre. Tairov's Chamber Theatre was accused of "Aesthetism and Formalism" and was destroyed by the government decision. Tairov was granted a personal pension and soon was hospitalized with brain cancer. He died on September 5, 1950, in Moscow, and was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia. - Costume Designer
- Art Director
- Set Decorator
Delacroix studied at the Paris Academy and was a student of Pierre Narcisse Guérin, who taught him classicist painting. But Delacroix was an admirer of the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, whose style he mainly embraced in his own work. He also took his cue from the work of the French painter and graphic artist Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault or from Venetian painters and English plein air painters such as John Constable and Richard Parkes Bonington. Delacroix visited the English landscape painter John Constable in England in 1825. Delacroix maintained friendships with the Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin and with the French novelist George Sand. The artist often drew his motifs from literature. Authors such as Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sir Walter Scott and George Gordon Noël Byron were influential for him in this regard.
In 1827, lithographs for Goethe's "Faust" were created. Or he was inspired by the history of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. His early major work entitled "Dante and Virgil in Hell" was written in 1822 and is now kept in the Louvre. It was presented and celebrated to the public at the Paris Art Salon in the same year. On the other hand, his painting entitled "The Massacre of Chios", created in 1824, sparked controversial discussions. Critics and audiences were bothered by Delacroix's bright colors and his free and dramatic style of expression, which went against the classical French painting tradition. Delacroix's most famous painting is entitled "Freedom Leads the People to the Barricade" and was created in 1831. In it, the artist processed his impressions of the July Revolution. In 1832 he went on a long journey to North Africa. The experiences and impressions there expanded his motivations, from which he benefited for the rest of his life.
Delaunay-Terk studied in Saint Petersburg, Karlsruhe and Paris. She settled in the French art metropolis for a year. There she married the art dealer Wilhelm Uhde in 1908. But the marriage didn't last long and divorce followed. Not long afterwards, in 1910, she married the French painter, theater decorator and leading representative of Orphism Robert Delaunay. This connection resulted in a fruitful artistic collaboration. In 1913 she collaborated with the French poet Blaise Cendrars. Together they wrote the first simultaneous book entitled "Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France".
Sonia Delaunay-Terk and her husband created light and color paintings. She was inspired to do this by the works of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and the French painter Paul Gaugin. She also dealt intensively with the color aesthetic theories of the French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul. Sonia Delaunay-Terk developed the idea of simultaneousism, which she also implemented and further developed in her works. In this way the title "Prismes électriques" was created in 1914. In 1961, an untitled color lithograph was created showing semicircles and squares. In the same year she created a gouache on wove paper as a composition of squares. This artistic idea was then also used in her designer works of theater decorations and costumes.
In 1968, among other things, she designed the ballet "Danses Concertantes" by the Russian composer Igor Feodorovich Stravinsky. Sonia Delaunay-Terk also creates fabric designs, for example for the French actor and author Jean Poiret. With her style, Sonia Delaunay-Terk pioneered the movement of geometric abstraction. She was one of the important representatives of abstract painting in France. In 1975 she was awarded membership in the French Legion of Honor. The following year she generously donated her graphic work to the Center Georges Pompidou. Her works also include the painting "Bal Bullier", "Costume Studies" and the color lithograph "Grande Icone I.".- Director
- Writer
- Production Designer
Ivan Kavaleridze was born on 1 April 1887 in Ladansky, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ladansky, Sumy Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Natalka Poltavka (1936), Koliyivshchyna (1933) and Zaporozhets za Dunayem (1937). He died on 3 December 1978 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine].- Actor
- Director
Fyodor Nikitin was born on 3 May 1900 in Lokhvitsa, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire [now Lokhvytsia, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor and director, known for Mussorgsky (1950), Ivan Pavlov (1949) and Krusheniye imperii (1971). He died on 17 July 1988 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Marina Dyakonenko was born on 24 May 1987 in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. She is an actress, known for Date in Vegas (2020), Papik (2019) and Bessmertnik (2015).
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Isaak Iosifovich Dunayevsky was born on January 30, 1900 in Lokhvitsa, Poltava, Russian Empire. His grandfather was a cantor. His father, named Iosif Dunayevsky was a cashier at the Loans Society, he also was an amateur artist. His mother, named Rosalia Dunayevsky, played piano and sang for their seven children, of whom six brothers became musicians. In 1910 Dunayevsky enrolled in the Kharkov School of Music of the Imperial Russian Music Society. There he studied piano, violin with Iosif Yu. Akhron, and composition with Simon. S. Bogatyrev. He graduated from the Kharkov Conservatory in 1919, and was a violinist and composer at the Kharkov Drama Theatre.
In 1923 Dunayevsky moved to Moscow and became the music director at the Theatre of Satire. He then moved to Leninsrad (now St. Petersburg), where he was appointed the Music Director of the Leningrad Music Hall and for the Big Band of Leonid Utyosov. He composed 12 operettas and was one of the founders of modern musical in the Soviet Union. Among his early admirers were Mikhail A. Bulgakov and Vsevolod Meyerhold. At that time, in Leningrad, Dunayevsky started his work in film. He was also the director of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Leningrad House of Pioneers, and also was elected the Chairman of the Leningrad Union of Composers
Dunayevsky is best known for his film music. His most popular film scores are 'Veselye Rebyata' (1934), 'Vratar' (1935), 'Tsirk' (1936), 'Deti Kapitana Granta' (1936), 'Volga-Volga' (1938), 'Svetly Put' (1940), 'Vesna' (1947), 'Kubanskie Kazaki' (1950), and other. Dunayevsky developed his own distinctive style, combining Russian folk songs with the American Jazz and the tradition of neo-Viennese operetta, the genre best represented by Emmerich Kálmán and Franz Lehár. He also absorbed the influences from the music of industrial age, the beat of Jazz, musical Impressionism of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and harmonic innovations of Sympho-Jazz. He always composed songs in a Major key.
Dunayevsky was a unique personality in the history of culture. In the times of the "Great Terror" under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin Dunayevsky managed to bring innovations by introducing the taste of Jazz and foreign entertainment into the rigid Soviet culture. His songs gained outstanding popularity in the former Soviet Union and internationally. His collaboration with the legendary singer and band-leader Leonid Utyosov was quintessential for the career of both men. Utyosov introduced Dunayevsky to director Grigoriy Aleksandrov and they made the first Soviet blockbusters 'Veselye Rebyata' (aka 'The Merry Guys', or 'Jolly Fellows' 1934) and 'Tsirk' (Circus 1936).
During the dangerous time of the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union in WWII, Dunayevsky with his music troupe was entertaining the Red Army troops. At that time he was the artistic director of the Ensemble of the Central Railway House of Culture. He was on road for about 2 years, concertizing in the rear of the Russian armies. During the war he composed mostly patriotic songs and lyrical romances. At the end of WWII Dunayevsky moved to Moscow. He continued his collaboration with Grigoriy Aleksandrov and Lyubov Orlova in their new films 'Vesna' (The Spring 1947) and 'Kubanskie Kazaki' (The Kuban Cossacs 1950). He was awarded the State Stalin's Prize twice, in 1936 and 1950.
Dunayevsky later suffered from the official censorship campaign against intellectuals, as well as Sergei Prokofiev, Anna Akhmatova, Aram Khachaturyan and other cultural figures in the Soviet Union. He fell into disgrace at the time of political struggle before and after the death of Joseph Stalin. Dunayevsky was viciously attacked by a high ranking Soviet official from the Ministry of Culture, who made libelous statements against the composer, and accused him of "cosmopolitism" and all kind of sins. Dunayevsky was working on his operetta 'White Acacia' (1955) to be premiered at the Moscow Operetta Theatre in November of 1955. That was to be his 'swan song', the last and unfinished work.
He died on July 25, 1955 of a heart attack. His radiant, cheerful and optimistic songs remain very popular today.- Actor
- Composer
Vladimir Volkov was born on 14 August 1929 in Khorol, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Poltava Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor and composer, known for Mekhanicheskaya syuita (2002), Hetmanski kleinody (1993) and Chyornyy kapitan (1973). He died on 10 November 2007.- Writer
- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
Anatoli Lunacharsky was born on 24 November 1875 in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was a writer and actor, known for Salamander (1928), Slesar i kantsler (1924) and Congestion (1918). He died on 26 December 1933 in Menton, France.- Inna Belokon was born on 27 March 1968 in Poltava, Ukraine. She is an actress, known for Just Sex, Nothing Personal (2018), The Best Weekend (2022) and Velyka prohulianka (2023).
- Writer
- Director
Georges Neveux was born on 26 August 1900 in Poltava, Russian Empire. He was a writer and director, known for L'appel de la vie (1937), Under Secret Orders (1937) and Street of Shadows (1937). He died on 27 August 1982 in Paris, France.- Evgeniy Grebyonka was born on 2 February 1812 in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. Evgeniy was married to M. Rostenberg. Evgeniy died on 15 December 1848 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia].
- Director
- Actor
Leonid Popov was born on 25 September 1938 in Poltava Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. He is a director and actor, known for Spasi i sokhrani (1989), Zemlya Sannikova (1973) and Amerikanskiy shpion (1991).- Art Department
- Art Director
- Costume Designer
Michael Romberg was born on 18 April 1918 in Poltava, Ukraine. Michael was an art director and costume designer, known for Ztracenci (1957), Chlap jako hora (1960) and How Man Learned to Fly (1958). Michael died on 15 June 1982 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].- Julia Pisarenko was born on 10 July 1986 in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. She is an actress, known for The Day After (2013), Ice (2018) and Furious (2017).
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Adolf E. Licho was born on 13 September 1876 in Kremenchug, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire [now Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor and director, known for Kaddisch (1924), Kinder der Zeit (1922) and 1914, die letzten Tage vor dem Weltbrand (1931). He died on 11 October 1944 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Soviet agrobiologist Trofim Denisovich Lysenko, was mainly known for his work on temperature variation on the life-cycle of plants before he rejected Mendelian genetics for his own theories. He became director of the USSR Institute of Genetics as a result of support from Joseph Stalin, who hoped he could eradicate famine. He did not believe in DNA or genes, and after WWII, combined his own theories with those of Olga Lepeshinskaya, to proclaim that non-cellular material could produce living cells. One of his theories, that plants of the same species can be planted very close together because they won't compete, has been blamed for more famines in the USSR and for bringing on China's Great Famine in 1959-61. Before the 1930s the Soviets had a thriving genetics community, but due to the imprisonment of anyone opposed to Lysenko's theories, it has been claimed he set Soviet biology back by 50 years.
- Nico Turoff was born on 6 December 1899 in Kremenchuk, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire. He was an actor, known for Trenck - Der Roman einer großen Liebe (1932), G.P.U. (1942) and The Devious Path (1928). He died on 22 June 1978 in East Berlin, East Germany.
- Boris Leonidov was born on 4 January 1892 in Khorol, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire [now Poltava Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a writer, known for Ukanasknel saats (1929), Zolotoy zapas (1925) and The Bay of Death (1926). He died on 23 June 1958.
- Soundtrack
Born of American parents in Southern Russia, pianist/composer Mischa Levitsky was educated at Juilliard with Stojowski and at the Berlin Hochschule with Dohnanyi, and was twice-awarded the Mendelsohn piano prize. At fifteen, he made his piano debut in Berlin, and at sixteen, in New York, later giving concerts throughout the world. He joined ASCAP in 1940, and his compositions include "Waltz in A"; "Valse Brilliante", "Gavotte", "Cadenza to Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto", "Arabesque Valsante", "Valse Tzigane", and "The Enchanted Nymph" (ballet).- Vladimir Sukhodolskiy was born on 16 June 1889 in Romny, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire [now Sumy oblast, Ukraine]. Vladimir was a writer, known for Karmeliuk (1938). Vladimir died on 20 November 1962 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine].
- Olga Bazanova was born on 9 November 1907 in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. She was an actress, known for Capt. Grant's Family (1936), Chuzhaya (1927) and Dve materi (1931). She died on 20 October 1993 in Russia.
- Cinematographer
- Sound Department
- Director
Konstantin Tkaczenko was born in 1925 in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Maridos em Férias (1972), Dioguinho (1957) and Como Evitar o Desquite (1973). He died on 17 November 1973 in Brazil.- Additional Crew
Isabella Vernici was born on 28 June 1915 in Poltava, Ukraine. She is known for Das Glas Wasser (1960), Zar und Zimmermann (1970) and Die Zaubergeige (1963). She was married to Volker von Collande. She died on 26 July 1986 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Actress
Moura Budberg was born in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. She was a writer and actress, known for The Sea Gull (1968), Three Sisters (1970) and Romanoff and Juliet (1961). She was married to Johann von Benckendorff and Nikolai Baron von Budberg. She died in November 1974 in Italy.- Oksana Arkhangelskaya was born on 30 July 1962 in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. She is an actress, known for Zhenskiye radosti i pechali (1982), Dali polotu strily (1990) and A Ring with a Ruby (2018).
- Gregori Chmara was born on 23 July 1893 in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Mocny czlowiek (1929), Crime and Punishment (1923) and Crown of Thorns (1923). He was married to Asta Nielsen. He died on 3 February 1970 in Paris, France.
- Boris Bezgin was born on 11 August 1907 in village Petrovtsy, Mirgorod uyezd, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire [now Myrhorod Raion, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for The Country Bride (1938), Bogatyr idyot v Marto (1954) and Transbalt (1930). He died on 25 January 1957.
- Vadim Kazachenko was born on 13 July 1963 in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine].
- Writer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Yakov Kostyukovskiy was born on 23 August 1921 in Zolotonosha, Poltava Governorate, Ukrainian SSR [now Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a writer, known for The Diamond Arm (1969), Kidnapping, Caucasian Style (1967) and Operation 'Y' & Other Shurik's Adventures (1965). He died on 12 April 2011 in Moscow, Russia.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Thomas de Hartmann was born on 21 September 1885 in Khoruzhevka, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire [now Khoruzhivka, Sumy Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a composer, known for Sound of Metal (2019), Kriss (1931) and Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979). He died on 28 March 1956 in New York City, New York, USA.