Composer Leonid Zakhlevny turns 75

Every Belarusian knows his songs and they are often called folk songs. Composer and artistic director of the band "Byaseda" Leonid Zakhlevny marks his 75th birthday. President Alexander Lukashenko has sent a letter of birthday greetings to the People's Artiste of Belarus.

Leonid Zakhlevny entered the conservatory as an accordionist, but graduated as a composer. His teachers were the legends of the national school of composition: Bogatyrev, Glebov and Olovnikov. He wrote dozens of musical pieces on the theme of love for Belarus, the memory of the war years. For more than ten years, he worked as a musical editor at Belarusfilm. He wrote melodies for documentary, feature and animated films. Leonid Zakhlevny turned to serious symphonic music as well: he composed cantatas, piano pieces, symphonies. But the band of folk music "Byaseda" of Belteleradiocompany, which he created and has been the permanent leader for 30 years, gained a high popularity.