Dear Fans of Leonid Kharitonov and the Red Army Choir!

We have been looking for a good way to bring together the many fans of Leonid Kharitonov all over the world and to provide a means of giving greater access to the recordings of the artist and to items of interest with regard to his life and career. There is so much material available and we want to be able to share it as widely as possible.

This pre-war comic song “Vasya-Vasilyok” was written by the famous Soviet composer Anatoly Grigorievich Novikov based on the verses of S.Ya. Alymov in 1940. Composer Novikov also wrote many other popular songs of that time. Among the most famous works were such as “Smuglianka“, “Oh, Roads!”, “The Ballad About Russian Boys“, “John Reed walks along Petrograd” and many others.

Below is the most recent version of this song performed by Igor Volkov (bass), Ivan Bukreev (tenor) and the Alexandrov Ensemble of the Soviet Army. The record was made in 1976.

We are so very grateful to the TV channel “RUSSIA 1” for remembering Leonid Kharitonov today in prime time.

This popular TV Show “Hello, Andrey!” was devoted to the famous hits of the Soviet era, 14.11.2020.

September 18th was the birthday of Leonid Mikhailovich Kharitonov. In this regard, the news agency “Sputnik News International” (the part of “Russia Today”) published an article on its website today in which Mikhail, the youngest son of Leonid Kharitonov, answer the agency’s questions and tell them about his father’s legacy on the day of his memory. We hope that you’ll enjoy it!

 

“Leonid Kharitonov, Famed Soloist To Alexandrov Ensemble, An Unheralded Gem Of Russian Culture – Son”

Last year, ten days after Leonid Kharitonov passed away, “The New York Times” honoured him by including one of his performances among their musical selections (at the bottom of the page). We have received this link just recently and would like to share it with all of his fans. We would like to thank Julie van de Mheen for sending this link to us.

“The Red Army Choir #2 – Concert tour to France: Mireille Mathieu and Felix Yusupov, 1967” – is the next episode from the “Talking with my father” series (with English Subtitles). A Russian famous singer Leonid Mikhailovich Kharitonov will talk about the times when he used to work in the Red Army Choir (The Alexandrov Ensemble) in 60-s. He will tell about his meeting with Russian Prince Felix Yusupov in Paris (France) during their concert tour. The Prince Felix Yusupov was also known as the killer of Gregory Rasputin.

“The Red Army Choir #1 – Paul Robeson, Fidel Castro and a concert tour to Cuba, 1961” – is the next episode from the “Talking with my father” series (with English Subtitles). A Russian famous singer Leonid Mikhailovich Kharitonov will talk about the times when he used to work in the Red Army Choir (The Alexandrov Ensemble) in early 60-s. He will tell about the historic Ensemble’s octet performance together with Paul Robeson and Arthur Eizen for the leader of the Soviet Union (USSR) Nikita Khruschev. They performed “The Song About Motherland” then.

My name is Mikhail Kharitonov and I’m the younger son of Leonid Mikhailovich. I have a very sad news for all the admirers of the famous Russian operatic singer. Leonid Mikhailovich Kharitonov has passed away on the 19th of September, 2017, after suffering his 5th heart attack. This happened the next day after his 84th birthday.

The 3d episode (with English subtitles) is dedicated to the one of the most famous Soviet composers – Matvey Blanter. Leonid Mikhailovich Kharitonov will talk about his creative collaboration with this composer and will tell about the history of the Dark-Eyed Cossack Girl song and its premier with the Alexandrov Red Army Choir in the Albert Hall in London on the March of 1967.

“Soviet composers #2 – Ostrovsky, Tulikov, Ekimyan” – is the second episode of the series (with English subtitles) and is dedicated to another three famous Soviet composers. Leonid Mikhailovich Kharitonov will talk about his creative collaboration with the composers of Soviet patriotic songs – Arkady Ostrovsky, Serafim Tulikov (such songs as “Motherland”, “Son of Russia”, “The Veterans Do Not Grow Old in Their Souls”) and Alexey Ekimyan (such songs as “Soviet country”, “Grey Hair”).