Biography: He graduated from school with a gold medal. In 1956 he graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute with a degree in mining engineer-geologist, and sang in the institute’s choir. I worked in my specialty for seven years. He has been on expeditions in the Crimea, the Carpathians, the Caucasus, and the Northern Urals. In 1963 he graduated from the evening department of the State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky (vocal class of N. G. Zubarev and A. A. Grodzinsky). From 1963 to 1968 he was a soloist at the opera studio of the Kyiv Conservatory.