Sidor Belarsky

External audio
You may hear Sidor Belarsky performing Judaic songs Here on fau.edu
You may hear Sidor Belarsky performing in "Seder Nights with Sidor Belarsky" Here on soundcloud.com

Sidor Belarsky was Born to a Jewish family in Kryzhopil, Ukraine.^[8] He emigrated with his wife Claurina and daughter Isabel to the United States in February of 1930^[9][10] or 1931.^[11] Initially, his family was automatically detained at Ellis Island since the United States did not maintain diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union at that time. ^[12][11][13]

Belarsky first pursued musical studies at the Odessa Conservatory and in Berlin.^[14] He later graduated from the State Conservatory at Leningrad in 1929 and soon emerged as a soloist with the Kirov Opera company as well as a leading basso with the Leningrad State Opera Company.^{[15][16][17][18]}

After arriving in the United States in 1930 while on a concert tour, he was invited by Franklin S. Harris to join the faculty at Brigham Young University, where taught vocal music from 1930-1933.^[19] He was also on the faculty at the University of Utah.^[20][21] He soon established residency in Los Angeles from 1932-1936 where he concertized with the Los Angeles Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl in productions of Boris Godunov and Eugene Onegin.^[22][23] While in Los Angeles he also founded the American Opera Company.^[24][25] He later acquired a faculty position as Professor of Music at the Jewish Teachers Seminary - Herzliah Institute in New York City while continuing to concertize in Europe, the Middle East, Canada and South America.^{[26] [27]}

Throughout his career, Belarsky concertized extensively in the United States as a leading basso with several operatic companies including: Chicago Civic Opera, San Francisco Opera, the American Opera Company of Los Angeles and the New York City Center Opera iin a production of Tosca in 1944.^[28][29][30] In South America, he also appeared at Teatro Municipal in Rio De Janeiro and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.^[31] He appeared as a concert soloist at New York City's Carnegie Hall in over 22 solo performances between 1931 and 1961 and also appeared with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscannini in a performance of Beethoven's opera Fidelio. ^[32][33][34] By 1944 Belarsky also emerged in the Broadway Theatre as a member of the cast in the revival of several operas by Giacomo Puccini at the Center Theatre including: La Tosca and La Boheme.^[35]

Along with many leading cantors of his time, Belarsky concertized in an effort to raise funds for the Zionist cause as the oppression of the Nazi regime in Germany accelerated in the 1930s.^[36] In 1948 Belarsky performed in Israel while celebrating its founding and contributed to the documentary film Shalom Israel in 1951.^[37] His recording of "Dem Milners Trern" ("The Miller's Tears"), a Yiddish folk song composed by M. M. Warshavsky, was featured in the Coen brothers's film, A Serious Man. The song's subject is the expulsion of Jews from hundreds of villages in Czarist Russia.^[38]

During the 1940's Belarsky also recorded several popular Ukrainian/Russian folk songs in collaboration with the accordionist John Serry and the Mischa Borr Orchestra for the RCA Victor label which included: "Dark Night (# 26-5037, 1946) by Nikita Bogoslovsky, "By the Cradle" (# 26-5035, 1946) by Aleksandre Alekseevich Olenin, "Katusha" (# 26-5035, 1946) by Hy Zaret and "Hobo Song" (aka "Mother") (# 26-5037, 1946) by Valerii Viktorovich Zhelobinsky.^[39]

Belarsky's recordings of Judaic folk songs were made on several labels including RCA Victor, Artistic Enterprises and Besa Records.^[40][41]

Sidor Belarsky died at the age of 77 in 1975 at North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, Long Island in New York.^[42][6]

Sidor Belarsky's extensive discography includes over 75 recordings of Judaic folk songs including:^[43]

• Forward 70th Anniversary: Sidor Belarsky Sings of the Hopes and Dreams of the East Side, Lazar Weiner, piano. Artistic Enterprises, Inc. (c. 1967) (presented by the Forward Association and The Workmen's Circle)

• Seder Nights With Sidor Belarsky - Artistic Enterprises Inc (# B-112) Sidor Belarsky performing songs for the Seder.^[44]

• The National Library of Israel has archived Belarsky's album Seder Nights With Sidor Belarsky which is available via online streaming.^[45]

• The Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive at Dartmouth College has archived several of Belarsky's performances of music for Chanuka.^[46]

• The Special Collections Department of the Florida Atlantic University Library has archived Belarsky's performances of Judaic songs which are accessible through online streaming in the university's Recorded Sound Archives ^[47]

• The Discography of American Historical Recordings at the University of California, Santa Barbara has archived master recordings of performances by Sidor Belarsky collaborating with the accordionist John Serry and the Mischa Borr Orchestra .^[48]

Secular Jewish music
Jewish music

• Dem Milners Trern - Sidor Belarsky (with lyrics translation) on YouTube
• Official website^{[dead link]}
• Sidor Belarsky on Worldcat
• The National Library of Israel Archive - Record album "Seder Nights with Sidor Belarsky"

This article about a Ukrainian singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e