User talk:Ngio/Frenkel

Yan Abramovich Frenkel'  (born November 21 1920, Kiev; deceased August 25, 1989 Riga) was a popular Soviet composer and performer.

Biography
Yan Frenkel' was born on the 21 November 1920 in the city of Kiev in the Ukraine. He was originally taught violin by his father, and later studied classical violin at the Kiev Conservatory under Yakob Magazinev. During the Second World War he was evacuated to Orenburg, where he studied at the Orenburg Zenitnoe Uchilishche, and played the violin in the orchestra of the Avrora Cinema. After the war he liven in Moscow, where wrote orchestral arrangements, and played the violin in various restaurants of the city.

He began composing songs in the 1960s. His first was the song Gody ('The Years'), written to lyrics by Mark Lisianski. During his later career he worked in collaboration with many prominent Soviet musicians, including Mikhael Tanich, Igor Shaferan, and the husband and wife team Konstantin Vanshenkin and Inna Goff. Thanks to Mark Bernec his song Zhuravli ('The Cranes', lyrics by Rasul Gamzatov) became a major hit. Frenkel gave concerts in which he performed his own music. During these concerts the audience would generally join in. His songs were included in the repertoire of many Soviet performers.

Yan Frekel' passed away on 25 August 1989 in Riga (as foreshadowed in his song Avgust ('August') to the lyrics of Inna Goff). His wife Natalia died in the mid 1990s, his daughter Nina has lived in Italy since the 1980s. His grandson Yan Frenkel Junior is a musician (pianist and arranger) in the Orchestra of the Coast Guard Academy of the USA.