Musicולדימיר שאינסקי

Vladimir Shainsky

Vladimir Shainsky was a Soviet and Russian Jewish composer, known for songs for children and for cartoons such as Cheburashka.

1925 to 2017Songs for the Cheburashka cartoonsChildren's songsYiddish songs played by klezmer bands

Born: 12 December 1925, Kyiv
Died: 25 December 2017, San Diego
Occupation: composer, songwriter, film score composer, pianist
Party: United Russia
Education: Moscow Conservatory, State Conservatory of Uzbekistan, Baku Academy of Music
Wars: Eastern Front

Vladimir Shainsky was born in 1925 in Kyiv

Shainsky was born in Kyiv in 1925 to a Jewish family and studied violin at a music school there. In 1941, World War II cut his studies short and his family was evacuated to Tashkent. Relatives who stayed in Kyiv were killed at Babi Yar.

He studied at the Tashkent Conservatory until he joined the Red Army. After the war he graduated as a violinist from the Moscow Conservatory. He later studied composition at the Baku Conservatory.

In the 1950s he played in Leonid Utyosov's orchestra, taught, and led dance orchestras. He wrote a string quartet in 1963 and a symphony in 1965. He then wrote many children's songs and music for cartoons, films and musicals, as well as songs in Yiddish.

In 2000 he immigrated to Israel and lived in Ashdod, and in 2007 he moved to San Diego. He married 3 times and had 3 children. He died in San Diego on 25 December 2017.