Voronets, Olga Borisovna

She was born in a musical family: her mother is a pianist, her father is a professional singer, and her grandmother came from impoverished Smolensk noblemen . Olga was brought up by her grandmother and mother in noble traditions. From childhood, she was taught to behave properly at the table, instilled good manners and a love of reading. Once Olga, already a well-known artist, came to the market for groceries, and one of the merchants shouted to her: “Woman, come here!”, To which she was indignant: “What are you calling to all:“ Woman! Woman!"? It is necessary: ​​"Ma'am, young lady, madame ..." ". After this incident, all the sellers recognizing her called her exclusively as "madame."

Olga's parents divorced when she was three years old, but she was friends with her father all her life. Sang since childhood, wanted to become a dramatic artist. But the first invitation to the cinema was received only after sixty and refused. Andrei Konchalovsky offered to play a rural woman who is older than her husband and limps.

In 1943 she graduated from high school and entered the VGIK , in the workshop of Vasily Vanin . Then she moved to the Opera Studio in Sokolniki to the pop department.

In 1947 - the first performances on the stage of the Central Police Club , then in the vocal group of the Orchestra of Folk Instruments of the Moscow Regional Philharmonic . Since 1956, she has been a soloist with Mosestrada . The characteristic appearance, overtone- rich chest mezzo-soprano , a wide range of voice from gentle pianissimo to a strong fort contributed to success. In those years, she sang light pop songs by Soviet composers and was far from folk art. At one of the concerts, she met a trio of accordionists (A. Kuznetsov, Y. Popkov, A. Danilov), and so managed to persuade her to try her hand at Russian folk song. In 1956, at the International Folklore Festival in France, the Russian folk song " Kalinka " performed by Voronets was so successful that the singer was nicknamed Olga-Kalinka .

In the early 1960s, the song by Grigory Ponomarenko “White Snow” performed by Voronets gained fame, and the singer's television and radio appearances became frequent. In 1971, in the finale of the “Song of the Year” festival, Voronets sang the songs “Why do you, girls, love beautiful” (“Daisies Hid”, from the film “ My Street ”, authors - Evgeny Ptichkin and Igor Shaferan ) and “Where can I get one song ”by Grigory Ponomarenko to the poems of Margarita Agashina , which became hits and her calling cards. Three of her songs went to the finals of the 1973 Festival: “Blossom, spring land”, “Adult daughters” and the most popular “I look into the blue lakes” (from the movie “ Shadows disappear at noon ”) ^[2] . In 1975 - “Sweet Berry”, from the film “ Earthly Love ”, in 1976 - “My Village” (to the verses of the poet V. R. Gundarev ), in 1977 - “Quiet Cities”, from the film “ Refutation ”, in 1978 - “Love came” and “Initiation” ^[3] . These years were the most successful in her career. Composers Grigory Ponomarenko , Oscar Feltsman , Evgeny Ptichkin , Vano Muradeli , Serafim Tulikov , Yuri Saulsky , Vera Gorodovskaya and others wrote songs specifically for her.

Olga Voronets actively worked with the State Russian Folk Orchestra named after Osipov . She toured in many cities of the USSR (including six times the singer was in BAM , twice in Kamchatka ), abroad: in all socialist countries, in Japan, the USA , Denmark , Holland , and also on the island of Mauritius .

As a young woman, Voronets dreamed of becoming a dramatic actress; she really wanted to play the main role in Konstantin A. N. Ostrovsky, Katerina. But for romances, as she herself admitted, then they paid more. When, after many years, Andron Konchalovsky offered her a role in his film, according to the scenario of which Voronets was supposed to play a rural woman, she refused - not because of pride, but because she was afraid she could not cope.

February 12, 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the singer, People's Artist of the RSFSR Olga Voronets on his 75th birthday. In a telegram, in particular, it is noted: “You are remembered and loved by millions of connoisseurs of folk and pop songs. They were captivated by your rare voice in beauty and range, a bright, distinctive manner of performance, and loyalty to the richest singing traditions of Russia. ”

In Smolensk, O. B. Voronets for many years served as chairman of the jury of the folk song festival “ Voices of Russia ”. She was also the chairman of the jury of the Disabled Creativity Festival "Together we can do more."

The younger brother of the singer lives in Moscow, he is an electronic engineer. The second brother lives in Smolensk - the son of mother and stepfather.

The work absorbed the whole life of the performer, and therefore her first husband was the person closest to her - accordion player Rafail Babkov. Together they lived for 14 years.

The second husband with whom they lived for 30 years was Vladimir Sokolov. He died in October 2012. They met at CITO , then he graduated from the Academy of Foreign Trade and became a businessman. Olga Borisovna did not have her children.

In the summer of 1998, Voronets bought a Zhiguli for herself, and before that she had been traveling the Volga all her life.

In 2009, in Moscow, fraudsters robbed the apartment of the People's Artist of the RSFSR and pop singer Olga Voronets. The amount of damage is more than 600 thousand rubles. “On the eve of Usievicha street, house 19, two unknown women, introducing themselves as employees of the social welfare department, entered the apartment of the people's artist, from where they stole 30 thousand rubles, 10 thousand dollars and jewelry,” the operatives explained. The landlady discovered the loss after the scammers left.

In 2010, the 84-year-old people's artist felt a sharp malaise. Olga Borisovna was immediately rushed to the intensive care unit of one of the Moscow clinics. After the examination, the doctors diagnosed a stroke .

On December 29, 2012 in Moscow, Olga Voronets received a serious leg injury, falling on the street and breaking her hip . The condition of the singer was assessed as satisfactory, the 86-year-old singer was put in the Botkin hospital . She could not return to normal life after such damage, she practically did not get out of bed.

October 28, 2013 was hospitalized in one of the capital's clinics ^[4] .

Olga Borisovna Voronets passed away at 5 a.m. on August 2, 2014 in Moscow after a serious illness at the 89th year of life.

The farewell ceremony was held at the regional Philharmonic in Smolensk. Funeral at the Holy Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk .

O. B. Voronets was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery in Smolensk next to his mother, Ekaterina Nikolaevna. The burial was held with military honors - under the national anthem of Russia and a salute of three blank shots.

“Olga Voronets was a great singer. Her performance of Russian folk songs can be considered the standard. Voronets, Zykina served the Russian song like no one else served. ”
Dmitry Dmitrienko, artistic director of the ensemble "Russia"

“I know Olga most of my life. I, the young artist, had the honor of being with her on the same trip where the famous artists, including Mikhail Garkavi, were. There was all the color of the stage. I saw Olga in the prime of her life. I was with her on “you”, called her Olenka. Her departure is an irreparable loss, she simply cannot believe it. A deep bow from all the artists of the Mosconcert. ”
Vladimir Pasynkov, director of the Moskontsert

“She knew how to overcome all the hardships that fell on her lot, was a great singer. She sang about what she learned from the people: joy, pride, love for the motherland, for those around her. She was a singer to whom God gave everything. The main thing is that she managed to take advantage of the gift of nature. I had the opportunity to communicate with her. He was an amazingly persistent man. She never cried. "
Vladimir Etush , People's Artist of the USSR

“The era of personalities is leaving. Olga Voronets is a powerful singer. She was never a simpleton. Always with a proud posture, with confidence in what she does on stage, and therefore her every song sounded convincing. The repertoire of Olga Borisovna has always been riddled with feelings of compassion, love, humanity. ”
Nadezhda Babkina , singer

February 12, 2015 on the stage of the Central House of Journalists an evening was devoted to the work of the singer.

• Honored Artist of the RSFSR ( March 1, 1966 ) - for merits in the field of Soviet vocal art ^[5]
• Order of the Badge of Honor ( July 2, 1971 ) - for the great successes achieved in fulfilling the tasks of the five-year plan ^{[6] [7]}
• Order of the Polar Star (Mongolian People's Republic, 1971)
• People's Artist of Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
• People's Artist of the RSFSR ( February 17, 1978 ) - for services to the development of Soviet musical art ^[8]
• Honorary citizen of Smolensk ( September 21, 2009 ) - for his great personal contribution to the development of music and performing arts and the glorification of the city of Smolensk, its history and cultural heritage in Russia and abroad ^[9] .

• Discography of the singer on the site Popsa.info
• Discography of the singer on Discogs.com
• Records of the singer on the site "Red Book of Russian pop music"

• In the film "The Simulator " (1990), the main character sang "I am Earth, I accompany my pets," imitating Olga Voronets’s vocals as she sang specially for the film.
• A parody of the song by O. B. Voronets “The Bell” (“Seva, Seva Novgorodtsev, the city of London, the BBC ”) was a screen saver of Seva Novgorodtsev's popular radio program.
• O. B. Voronets parodied Victor Chistyakov .

• Interview on Mayak Radio (inaccessible link)
• Olga Voronets: Tell me what you sing ...