Юрий Александрович Фалик

Yuri Falik (Russian: Юрий Александрович Фалик; 1936 - 2009) was a Soviet and Russian composer.

Falik was born on July 30, 1936 in Odessa, Soviet Union (nowadays Ukraine). His father was a musician in the esteemed Odessa Opera and introduced Yuri to music at a very early age, frequently taking him to performances.

His musical education began at the Stoliarsky School of Music (or School of Stolyarsky); he then graduated as a cellist and composer from the Leningrad Conservatory (now known as the N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory, or St. Petersburg Conservatory) - a highly respected school whose other graduates have included Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich.

Though he was an award-winning cellist (he was a 1st prize winner of the Helsinki International Cellist Competition), he chose to pursue conducting professionally, and wrote more than 60 works across the spectrum of classical composition. He was a Professor of Composition and Instrumentation at aforementioned St. Petersburg Conservatory, and in 1991 became a Guest Professor of Music Composition and Chamber Orchestra at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Falik's works are more widely published in Russia; there are currently limited works in-print elsewhere. The Russian classical music label Northern Flowers released a CD in 2004 featuring the Concerto della Passione and Second Concerto from "Symphonic Etudes".