Lovers of pop music of the sixties are familiar with the name VIA “Good fellows,” but few know where this band came from and how it crossed a long path to fame. Petrenko Alexander stood at the origins of this ensemble. He is one of the most respected musicians of our time. Many beginning composers and performers dream of getting a master class from a real meter of the stage.
Petrenko Alexander: biography
Alexander was born a year after the war (in 1946) in the family of an officer of the Navy. Then the family lived in Moscow, but five years later the future musician with his parents moved to Leningrad. At the age of nine, Alexander begins to make music. He attends lessons at a music school, learns to play the trumpet and receives his first knowledge of musical notation. Alexander chose jazz as the most attractive genre of Petrenko. At school, he masters the trombone and at the same time takes private lessons from Leningrad musicians.
The music fascinated him so much that at the age of 19 the young man moved to Donetsk with his brother Igor, where he began working in the philharmonic society. He received a conductor-choral education, which helped him a lot with the device. During his life, he led various teams and even acted as a teacher. However, Alexander did not live long in Donetsk, very soon he was visited by the idea of creating an ensemble, and he went to Leningrad to visit his friends.
The first VIA of the USSR
However, Alexander received Petrenko the greatest popularity as one of the participants in the first vocal and instrumental ensemble, where he played the solo guitar and acted as a vocalist. Jazz had a strong influence on the musician’s work. They listened and recorded Western bands playing in this genre. The first songs of the ensemble were developed according to the style of the English Beatles team.
The ensemble gathered in Leningrad, where Alexander quickly returned from Donetsk. Young men attracted students from the radio engineering institute. They assembled recording equipment and acted as sound engineers. In order to earn money as a hobby, the young men began to speak in a cafe, their repertoire consisted of Western motifs. Later they developed their concert program and performed with it at the Donetsk Philharmonic. From that moment, the era of VIA and the professional activity of Alexander as a member of the collective began.
What does the musician do now
Petrenko Alexander during his life worked with many eminent performers, such as Eduard Gil and Edita Pieha. On the same stage, he performed with beginner Yuri Antonov, who was also a member of the VIA. Alexander is one of the most talented arrangers and composers. Not so long ago, the musician celebrated his professional anniversary - 50 years on stage.
He is currently teaching youth. To do this, he created a studio in which every child can study. There is no professional competition and selection. Alexander conducts training from October to May. Children usually do not have the initial skills of the game, they learn everything from scratch, so the musical schedule is a mandatory subject in the studio schedule.