Sidor Belarsky was born to a
Jewish family in
Kryzhopil, Ukraine. He emigrated with his wife Clarunia and daughter Isabel to the United States in February 1930 or 1931. Initially, his family was automatically detained at Ellis Island since the United States did not maintain diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union at that time. He later graduated from the
State Conservatory at Leningrad in 1929 and soon emerged as a soloist with the
Kirov Opera company as well as a leading basso with the Leningrad State Opera Company. After arriving in the United States in 1930 while on a concert tour, he was invited by
Franklin S. Harris to join the faculty at
Brigham Young University, where taught vocal music from 1930-1933. While in Los Angeles he also founded the American Opera Company.He appeared as a concert soloist at New York City's
Carnegie Hall in over 22 solo performances between 1931 and 1961 and also appeared with the
NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of
Arturo Toscannini in a performance of Beethoven's opera
Fidelio. By 1944 Belarsky also emerged in the Broadway Theatre as a member of the cast in the revival of several operas by
Giacomo Puccini at the
Center Theatre including:
La Tosca and
La Boheme. As part of his encore presentations in the concert hall, Belarsky often included the work "Mayn rueh plats" ("My quiet place") by the poet
Morris Rosenfeld. Along with many leading cantors of his time, Belarsky concertized in an effort to raise funds for the Zionist cause as the oppression of the Nazi regime in Germany accelerated in the 1930s. In 1948 Belarsky performed in Israel while celebrating its founding and contributed to the documentary film
Shalom Israel in 1951. The song's subject is the expulsion of Jews from hundreds of villages in
Czarist Russia. In 1954 he performed in a concert sponsored by the Association to Perpetuate the Memory of Ukrainian Jews before a packed house at New York City's
Town Hall. During the 1957-1958 concert season he emerged once again in South Africa in recitals of Yiddish and Hebrew songs. During the 1940s Belarsky also recorded several popular Ukrainian/Russian folk songs in collaboration with the accordionist
John Serry and the Mischa Borr Orchestra for the RCA Victor label which included: "
Dark Night (# 26-5037, 1946) by
Nikita Bogoslovsky, "By the Cradle" (# 26-5035, 1946) by Aleksandre Alekseevich Olenin, "Katusha" (# 26-5035, 1946) by
Hy Zaret and "Hobo Song" (aka "Mother") (# 26-5037, 1946) by
Valerii Viktorovich Zhelobinsky. Belarsky's recordings of Judaic folk songs were made on several labels including RCA Victor, Artistic Enterprises and Besa Records. Along with
Jan Peerce and
Richard Tucker, Sidor Belodsky has been credited with helping to keep Yiddish folk songs alive both onstage and in recordings during the 20th century. His admirers included several leading Jewish intellectuals including:
Albert Einstein, President
Zalman Shazar of Israel and
Eli Wiesel. ==Death==