A conductor whose life is music

Leonid Balabaichenko gave 40 years of selfless service to the Zheleznogorsk Operetta Theater as Chief Conductor, from 1979 to 2019.

In the musical and theatrical world of Russia, Leonid Balabaichenko is known as a talented conductor, a connoisseur of opera, symphony, jazz music, a brilliant arranger. Over the years of service at the Zheleznogorsk Operetta Theater, under the direction of Leonid Balabaichenko, the best classical operettas and musicals of foreign and domestic composers have been staged. He owns interesting innovative projects that were carried out as part of the operetta genre: a symphonic concert from the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Ravel Debussy, Chopin, Paganini, Sibelius, List; a concert of Spanish music, a concert of song music by I. Dunaevsky, a concert-choreographic fantasy “Sibonei”. These works were in his own arrangements. For the first time in Russia, Leonid offered the viewer the operetta Friml and Stotgardt "Rose-Marie" in jazz, designed for a small orchestra.

“Music is my greatest and most important love for all my life! ... I understood this from my first touch on this beautiful art form immediately and forever! I began to do what I love at the age of five. And I can even say that I received a certain blessing, a sign from above .... During the war, a bomb fell into our house, destroying it completely .... And the only thing left unharmed is the one wall with the piano on it!

“I am a person who loves Life in all its manifestations! But most of all I am grateful that I have the opportunity to touch the great magic of Music ... And these enthusiastic feelings live in me to this day! ” - Leonid tells about himself.