Childhood and youth
Igor was born on November 16, 1962 in Brest (Belarus). His parents were not musicians. His father worked on the railroad, his mother worked as an engineer. His sister studied violin and piano at a music school. The love of music was passed on to the children from grandmother Maria, who sang romances with a guitar.
Igor Kornelyuk in childhood and youth
The parents were against their son’s musical education, but on the advice of a conservatory professor, in 1968 they sent Igor to a music school. He had a sonorous voice, and he often sang during family holidays in the presence of guests, accompanying himself on the button accordion. Igor wrote his first song, entitled “Russia, dear Russia, slender trunks of birches...” at the age of 9.
Studying at a music school was not encouraging; the boy was not good at solfeggio, but this did not stop him from playing at dances. From the age of 12, on weekends, Igor performed at the Palace of Culture with an ensemble. His musical work experience began in the 5th grade. Igor played the ionica and received 30 rubles a month for this. There he first met his love Lyuba. Igor, despite his young age, truly fell in love, but the girl did not respond to his feelings.
Igor Kornelyuk
For the vulnerable child's soul, this became a tragedy that affected his health. When Igor recovered from mental trauma and illness, he felt the need to express everything that filled his soul. So the girl Lyuba made him a composer. The first, still naive, songs about love appeared. He took words for his works from Sergei Yesenin, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva and even Boris Pasternak.
Igor enters the music school after 8th grade. Little time was devoted to studying, since he played in a rock ensemble, “hanged out” and returned home in the morning. At that time, he received advice from one of the teachers that influenced his future fate. Igor was advised to go to Leningrad, where at that time there was a strong composing school.
Igor Kornelyuk
The decision to move was hasty; he confronted his parents with a fait accompli by announcing that he was going to Leningrad. He passed the exams without expecting success, so he was very surprised when the teacher approached him and congratulated him on his enrollment. This teacher was Vladlen Chistyakov, who would become his mentor and close friend.
The study turned out to be difficult, but fruitful and interesting. Students studied the work of the orchestra and practiced composition. While studying at the school, Kornelyuk was entrusted with writing the musical accompaniment for the play “Trumpeter on the Square” for the Drama Theater. Pushkin. The school was successfully completed in 1982.
Wedding of Igor Kornelyuk
By the time he entered the conservatory, Kornelyuk already had a family to support. The scholarship was not enough, so he worked part-time where he could. During his studies, he wrote a symphony, composed romances, music for films and theater productions. During this period, he mastered synthesizers and computers. His thesis, which Kornelyuk defended with excellent marks, was a computer symphony.
Growing up
Igor was enrolled in the music school after 8 years of schooling. He did not spend much time studying, as he played in a rock band. He often partied until the morning. I received advice from a school teacher - to go conquer Leningrad. There was a serious school of composing there in those days.
Igor moved, despite the fact that his parents did not welcome his action. He passed the exams successfully. And he began to study on the course of Vladlen Chistyakov himself, who became for him a fatal mentor and close person.
It was not easy to study, but very interesting. The students studied the work of the orchestra and became interested in writing compositions. Kornelyuk was entrusted with writing music for the production of “The Trumpeter on the Square ,” which was performed at the theater. Pushkin.
In 1982, Igor successfully completed his studies at the school and entered the conservatory. There was no money to provide for myself and my family, and therefore I had to look for part-time work. Igor was involved in creating romances, music for films and theater performances, and wrote symphonies. Then he mastered computers and synthesizers. He managed to defend his thesis on computer symphony with the highest score.
Music
The development of the composer’s creative biography was influenced by different music: in his youth it was “QUEEN”, in music school it was jazz. As a student at the conservatory, the young man became interested in the works of the great classics of the “Mighty Handful” (N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, M. P. Mussorgsky, A. P. Borodin).
Composer Igor Kornelyuk
Alexander Morozov helped him become a hitmaker, who touched a nerve with Igor, accusing him of writing music that was incomprehensible to ordinary Soviet people. In response, Kornelyuk wrote several songs that became hits. His new songs “Darling”, “A boy and a girl were friends”, “Rains” and many others were heard in every home.
Regina Lisits becomes his poet-co-author. Their songs are performed by Soviet pop stars, they take prizes at competitions and festivals. Already in the first year of joint creativity, Igor Kornelyuk’s song “Find out” helped Anna Veski become a laureate of the festival in Sopot. The singer had a whole program of Kornelyuk’s songs, including: “I don’t understand what’s wrong with me,” “Monkey,” “Horoscope” and others. And at the television competition “Jurmala-86” Svetlana Medyanik became second, performing the composer’s hit “Not with me”. In 1987, he was recognized as the best author and performer of his own songs.
Singer and composer Igor Kornelyuk
In addition to working on solo compositions, the composer works on music for plays and films, and also creates musicals. Among the works of the late 80s are the children's opera “Pull-Push, or Aibolit from Zverinskaya Street” and the musical design for the film “Musical Games”. Kornelyuk's songs replenish the repertoire of Mikhail Boyarsky, Edita Piekha, Philip Kirkorov, and the cabaret duet "Academy".
His solo career began in 1988 after leaving the Buff Theater, where he served as artistic director. Igor becomes extremely popular, participates in the “Music Ring”, where he was invited by Viktor Reznikov. He wins and becomes famous, and the composition “Ticket to the Ballet,” with which he performed at the “Song of the Year,” receives a prize.
Igor Kornelyuk. Song "Rains"
Three solo albums, which appeared one after another - “Ticket to the Ballet”, “Wait”, “I Can’t Live Like This”, made the singer mega-popular. From now on, Igor Kornelyuk becomes a welcome guest at Alla Pugacheva’s “Christmas Meetings”; his songs are heard in the popular intellectual game “What? Where? When?". The popular festival “Song of the Year” is not complete without Kornelyuk. In 1998, the composer reminded of himself with the album “Hello, this is Kornelyuk!”, after which the composer’s discography was replenished only with works from films.
In the early 90s, Igor Kornelyuk tried himself as an actor, starring in the film “Kud-kud-kuda, or Provincial stories with interludes and a divertissement in the finale.” The plot and musical material of the comedy film were used by Kornelyuk in joint concerts with Ilona Bronevitskaya.
Igor Kornelyuk. Song "Ticket to the Ballet"
The singer performs solo concerts at Luzhniki, Olimpiysky, Oktyabrsky and State concert halls. In 1998, he again participated in the Musical Ring, now with Viktor Chaika. This was his second win on the popular show. During his musical career, Kornelyuk wrote more than a hundred songs and created a music studio.
Igor Kornelyuk is a composer who writes music for films. “The City That Doesn’t Exist” from the TV series “Gangster Petersburg” is one of the most popular hits. A clip was created using footage from the film.
Igor Kornelyuk, “The City That Doesn’t Exist”
His music can be heard in the films “The Idiot”, “Taras Bulba”, “If the Sky is Silent”, “Alien War” and others. The soundtrack from “The Master and Margarita” was called “Infernal Waltz” and was also released as a separate video.
Igor Kornelyuk performs not only solo, but also in duets. He performed the song “Darling” years later together with Sati Casanova. In 2014, Kornelyuk was invited to join the jury of the One to One television competition.
Author of more than 200 songs
For many years, today's birthday boy has been collaborating with other representatives of the Russian stage. Igor Kornelyuk's compositions are performed by such famous stars as Philip Kirkorov, Anne Veski, Mikhail Boyarsky and Edita Piekha. Today, the artist is the author of more than two hundred songs, and this number increases every day.
The musician also actively works in the field of cinema. His music can be heard in two dozen films, including “Taras Bulba”, “Admirer”, “The Master and Margarita”.
But, of course, the most famous film featuring Kornelyuk’s works is the multi-part film “Gangster Petersburg”. This detective series was broadcast on screens for 7 years and became one of the most successful and popular on Russian television. The soundtrack of this television series was Igor Kornelyuk’s composition “The City That Doesn’t Exist.”
This piece of music was loved by television viewers and is still considered the most striking creation of today’s birthday boy.
Personal life
His wife Marina studied at the choral singing department. The young people got married after two years of living together, when they were 19 years old. The wedding took place between the final exams at the school and the entrance exams to the conservatory. At the same time, the play “Trumpeter on the Square” with Nikolai Fomenko in the title role was released. For Kornelyuk, working on the music for the production was a premiere. A student wedding was played for the first fee. In 1983, their son Anton was born. The son did not follow in the footsteps of his parents, devoting his life to computer technology.
Igor Kornelyuk with his wife
There are many photographic portraits and full-length photos of Igor and Marina on the Internet, who have been happily married for more than 30 years. Igor writes music in his country house, and Marina organizes concerts for her talented husband.
In 2012, the artist officially announced that he suffers from diabetes. The failure in the body was influenced by a difficult event in the composer’s personal life - the death of his father, which occurred suddenly from a blood clot. The singer could not come to his senses for a long time; problems with sugar began. The illness forced the composer to reconsider his attitude to diet. Pierre Dukan's diet, as well as noni fruit juice, helped me lose weight from 110 kg to 92 kg.
Family
In 1962, on November 16, Igor Kornelyuk was born. The family into which the future composer was born had nothing to do with the art of music. Parents - Evgeny Kasyanovich and Nina Afanasyevna - were engineers. However, the artist’s grandmother, Maria Demyanovna, played a seven-string guitar and sang romances. And when guests gathered in the house, drinking songs were sung in chorus at the table. Igor was often asked to sing too. A professor at the Belarusian Conservatory recommended that parents send their son to a music school. At the age of 6, Igor began learning to play the piano. At the same time, the parents believed that a musician was not a profession, and were against the boy choosing such a career in life. Mother and father changed their minds only years later.
Igor Kornelyuk now
Now the Kornelyuks live in a country mansion in Sestroretsk. At home, the musician has a large collection of watches and rare items. The singer does not use social networks; on Instagram, his photos are posted on fan pages.
Igor Kornelyuk in the studio
In 2020, the singer re-released the collection “Igor Kornelyuk. Best songs". In 2020, the musician delighted the residents of Petrozavodsk with a performance at City Day.
Away from the bustle
Igor Kornelyuk’s path to popularity cannot be called simple; there were times when he, along with his young wife, child and mother-in-law, had to huddle in a one-room Khrushchev house. So that no one would interfere with his work, the composer often had to lock himself in the toilet. Not the best place for inspiration and work, but no one distracts.
Article on the topic
Illness, binges, lack of money. How do the stars of the 90s live today? Of course, over time, the singer improved his living conditions. First he moved to a spacious apartment, and more than ten years ago he built a large country cottage. Next to it, Igor Evgenievich erected a pavilion where he placed a piano to play for guests. Although Kornelyuk admits that with age it becomes more and more difficult to gather a large noisy company, as in his youth. Friends often prefer cafes and restaurants, but the singer does not back down. “It’s still not possible to communicate mentally there: I can’t relax in a cafe, I feel somehow squeezed, because there can always be strangers nearby,” he admitted in an interview with the men’s magazine “Batya”. By the way, Igor recently decided to renovate his mansion, which takes him not only a lot of time (together with his wife, the artist has to supervise the builders), but also all the fees from performances. Kornelyuk's only consolation is the fact that this is the “last repair” in his life: the composer will definitely not take such an adventure again. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
