On board the TU-154 that crashed today was Valery Khalilov, the chief military conductor of Russia, the head of the ensemble - the artistic director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A. V. Alexandrov, who was heading with the ensemble to organize New Year's congratulatory events at the Khmeimim airbase.
These are fragments from several interviews with Valery Mikhailovich Khalilov - about childhood, profession and faith in God.
About baptism and faith
I was baptized at four years old. I grew up in a village near Kirzhach, my grandmother was a believer, and not just devout, like all the old women in those days, but a deep, sincere believer. She often told me: “Granddaughter, it wasn’t us who started it, it’s not ours to abolish,” because Orthodoxy and church life seemed to me something completely organic, unchanging and correct.
The wooden chapel that stood in our village was destroyed, and on holidays all the grandmothers went to the monastery church in the neighboring village. I walked with them, and I remember everything, even though I was small: our fairy-tale forests, Vladimir... strawberry meadows, domed churches. Even Russian nature itself is fascinating, but I don’t even understand how you can not love the Church at least as a part of Russian spiritual culture!
I was strong, I’ll be honest, but now I’m skinny. In general, I was so plump, plump, I was already, so to speak, a conscious person. Dad was a communist, and my mother, taking advantage of the opportunity that my father was working and I was in the village, she says to my grandmother: “Come on, while my father is away.”
But dad wasn’t against it, but you know what it was like in those days? He was an army officer, he was a conductor, like my brother is a conductor, and my nephew in Sevastopol is now a conductor, by the way. Therefore, maybe because my mother was afraid that if they found out from my father, they might do something. In short, I was baptized.
I remember this moment very well, when I was baptized for the first time. They put me in the courtyard, in the yard, we have a hut and a yard in front of the hut. They put him in a basin with cold water. How's that? Father leaned over me, and I was such a healthy boy, and I grabbed his beard. You know how it is... Butt by the beard.
I was baptized at the age of four, and when I slept in the hallway, there was a picture above my head. I don’t remember which one, there were a lot of holy people in this picture, but every “lights out”, as they say now in military parlance, I was accompanied by this picture. When I went to bed, the boy was completely in the village in this hut.
Then she disappeared, because there were times when people went around collecting paintings and icons. And our village is unguarded, they just broke into many of the icons in many of our houses in the village, just... Then it was such a disgrace. This icon has disappeared. Besides, we have such a village, so picturesque, so stunning, small, so patriarchal, it’s simply impossible not to believe in something so heavenly there, despite all its beauty.
This is the environment in which I was brought up. This is all, as they say, from God. I have this Russianness, it is rooted in this village.
All this prompted me to believe in God. Well, besides this, there were just cases, very interesting... and why did I live, then, now it’s called Yakimanka. As before, by the way, there is this church there, Oktyabrskaya metro station. And then Easter, I remember. People walk around the church, this really stuck with me.
We, young people, stand on the parapets around the church; the police do not let us in there. Grandmothers in headscarves with children and small children enter there - they let them through. We can’t go there, we are young people - they don’t let us in there, and I think this is what they are doing there, what they are doing there, why they are not letting us in.
Here's the question: why? What are they doing there that’s so bad, why aren’t they letting us in? I was always drawn there because singing was heard from there, some smells, you know, candles, all that, crosses, some kind of sacrament. It was still attractive. The more they banned it, the more I was drawn there in this sense too. There are some little things that go unnoticed, and then you analyze: why did you do that? Yes, because this little thing influenced you, so everyone goes to God on their own path, of course, and some, maybe even some little things, lead to this road, I don’t know. Signs? Don't know. But it did, thank God!
About choosing a profession
My dad was a military conductor. I now have a younger brother who is a military conductor. And the current military conductor's nephew, a lieutenant, serves as a sailor in Sevastopol. That is, I have a dynastic family on the male side, military conductors. Thanks to my father, I entered the Moscow Military Music School. And, to be honest, when I got in, I didn’t understand why I went there. At the age of 11, he was torn away from the comforts of home and ended up within the walls of a closed educational institution.
Moreover, everything was inherent in the military way of life: getting up, going out, exercises, physical activity. And, of course, general education and music subjects. The duration of study is 7 years; I entered at 11 and graduated at 18. All my physical and biological growth occurred during this period. The school gave me the professional education that I still use today. That's how I became a military conductor.
About sacred and military music
I often think about the internal similarity of seemingly opposite spheres - military and sacred music. After all, military music has amazing power, and, contrary to stereotypes, it is not at all aggressive.
It pains me to hear when they say that the execution of marches is a step towards the militarization of the entire country. It seems to me that we must think in terms of artistic taste. A good march is as difficult to write as a good song! Every great composer has his own personality, a national musical tradition too: the main feature of our Russian military music is its special melodicism, its folklore, folk intonations.
Do modern people know how to perceive classical music? It is possible to determine whether a person perceives music well or poorly only after he learns to perceive it! How can a person discover the charm of classical music if he has not been instilled with a love for it since childhood?
There is a zone in the soul of each of us that is open to everything high and good - open to the right music. And I call the right music that which, in its emotional impact, encourages a person to do the best deeds - creativity, creation. And if so-called “light” music can serve as an unobtrusive background, then classical music can never do so. Listening to classics is the work of the soul.
People are the same at all times, they are always open to good music. This means that we must educate to the best of our abilities. Without boasting, I can say that we have opened the doors of many concert halls to military bands: the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the International House of Music.
And we give out free tickets, despite the fact that, according to all the laws of commerce, people are supposedly more willing to go to events when they bought a ticket with their own money. Believe me, I never flattered myself with the hope that all our concerts would be sold out, but we have people sitting on the steps just to listen to the music! And how can we then say that modern people are not able to perceive the classics?
We dream of bringing brass music back to the parks and to the people. After all, people today especially lack something real... at work, in everyday life, and we try to fill this urgent need with live music and beautiful melodies.
Here comes a typical city person to a concert: merged with the city, unable to imagine his life without hot water and TV, as if stuck, dried up to this comfortable life. And suddenly he hears the sounds of a military brass band, plunges into another world and... thaws. Ask him at this moment what he is thinking about now, and he will definitely say: about love, about children, about his homeland, about God.
You know, I noticed an amazing thing: a brass band simply cannot play bad music! Even if the musicians play poorly, this music still enchants, even if some sounds are conveyed incorrectly. It’s like in nature: one person likes autumn, another doesn’t: everything withers, it’s slushy, your feet get wet. But still, every time of year is wonderful!
The same is true for wind music: its very nature, its very breath is pure, bright. It is probably on this plane that music - whether military or simply classical - intersects with spiritual life. And I really want my work to instill only moral values in people.
I have a joke like this. I tell religious people: “You know, I have a friend who wrote a Ph.D. dissertation on the topic “The influence of brass music on the spiritual life of the clergy.”
This is a joke, but of course, in reality, and again I always say this: technology is developing, but where do people tend to go with urbanization? Where are they heading? To nature. I always compare, look what’s happening on Friday, what’s going on on the roads - where is everyone running? In the forest, in the clearings, in nature.
The brass band is nature, it is a living sound emanating from there, from within. And even if he plays primitively, even the boys play, an amateur orchestra - these simple melodies, this primitivism even, in a sense, but the presentation of these sounds, these natural, and again I say, at the genetic level makes people hear .
There are people all around, I don’t want to say, all sorts of people, maybe even strange ones, but they gather because apparently this music of ours somehow affects the cerebral cortex. They're getting ready. Even if they play poorly, the crowd gathers around the brass band.
On prayer in a military march
Let's say the march “General Miloradovich”. The idea was suggested by Colonel Babanko Gennady Ivanovich, who during my service in Pushkino was the head of the political department of the school and, already in retirement, wrote the book “General Miloradovich”, knowing that I was writing music, called me and said: Valer, write music about General Miloradovich , I’ll give you a book to read, and you, inspired by this book, write a march.
And after reading the book, I realized that the fate of this general is completely extraordinary and not only forgotten, but in a conceptual understanding it is simply perverted.
General Miloradovich, commanding the rearguard, did not allow the enemy to collide with our troops at the time he wanted. Hero of the War of 1812.
In 1824, the December uprising. Senate Square. As you know, the Decembrists withdrew their troops. Miloradovich was the Governor-General of St. Petersburg. When he entered Senate. square, the troops, recognizing him, began to fall on their faces. And one of the Decembrists, former lieutenant Kakhovsky, seeing that a turning point in the uprising was about to happen, he used a ladies’ pistol from behind to inflict a mortal wound on Miloradovich, from which he died.
So there is Kakhovsky Street in St. Petersburg, but there is no Miloradovich Street. And in general, the surname Miloradovich arose after the tsar summoned Khrabrenovich, his ancestor, and said: you are very dear to me with your courage, you will become Miloradovich.
And in this march for the first time I used prayer, and I wrote the music for this prayer myself. There is no such analogue. And if you listen to the march carefully, you can imagine the social life of St. Petersburg, and the prayer service before the battle, and the return of these Russian soldiers. All this with a choir.
By the way, in the march, in our Russian and Soviet marches, this is the first time that prayer has been introduced into the march. I did this based on the image that General Miloradovich himself promised me, because he was certainly an Orthodox, believer, and since the troops were leaving for the battlefield, there was always a prayer service.
So I made this prayer service - in the Gospel, with the help of a believer, I found words dedicated to “our howls”, and put music on these words, as is usually done. You will hear this prayer in the middle of the march. And then you will hear the victorious procession, the return of our troops from the battlefield to the salute, and again you will hear the first part, again the return to secular life. In the course of, I don’t know, I think, five or four and a half minutes, the life of this glorious general Miloradovich will flash before you.
This is a march, this is a Russian march, I wrote it. There is nothing so reprehensible in it, regarding, as they say, excuse the expression, a boot - there is no such thing. This is a very secular, very beautiful, I think, march. By the way, many conductors love it and often perform it, although it is difficult to perform.
About Russian military musicians
Our country is the only one where there is a well-functioning system for training military conductors. Abroad, they become people who already have a higher musical education and have passed certification in physical training. But our army trains its own musicians.
First, secondary education - the Moscow Military Music School accepts ninth-graders, after graduation they can enter the Institute of Military Conductors on the basis of the Military University of the Ministry of Defense. This system of training and education produces a specialist who is familiar with army life from the inside.
Coming to the orchestra as a lieutenant, he already knows what and how to do. This has a positive effect on the skill of our orchestras. For example, during the parade on Red Square, 1000 military musicians play about 40 compositions by heart. Foreigners are amazed at the synchronicity and beauty of the performance.
Valery Mikhailovich Khalilov– head of the ensemble - artistic director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A. V. Alexandrov, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General.
Born into the family of a military conductor. He started studying music at the age of four. He graduated from the Moscow Military Music School (now the Moscow Military Music School) and the Military Conducting Faculty at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky. Upon completion of his studies, he was appointed military conductor of the orchestra of the Pushkin Higher Military Command School of Air Defense Radio Electronics.
After the orchestra under the direction of Valery Khalilov took first place in the competition of military orchestras of the Leningrad Military District (1980), he became a teacher at the conducting department of the Military Conducting Faculty at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky.
In 1984, Valery Khalilov was transferred to the management body of the military band service of the USSR Ministry of Defense, where he served as an officer of the military band service, senior officer and deputy head of the military band service.
From 2002 to 2016, Valery Khalilov - head of the military orchestra service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - chief military conductor.
In April 2016, by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Valery Khalilov was appointed to the position of Head of the Ensemble - Artistic Director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A.V. Alexandrov.
Valery Khalilov is the musical director of such international military music festivals as “Spasskaya Tower” (Moscow), “Amur Waves” (Khabarovsk), “March of the Century” (Tambov) and the International Military Music Festival in South Sakhalinsk.
Valery Khalilov is a member of the Union of Composers of Russia. His work as a composer is mainly associated with the genres of brass orchestral, choral, vocal and chamber instrumental music.
He toured with the leading orchestras of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, North Korea, Lebanon, Mongolia, Poland, USA, Finland, France, Switzerland, Sweden.
Valery Khalilov was born into a military family - his father and brother were military conductors. The musician’s father graduated from a military music school in Tashkent. During the war, he was selected as one of the ten best boys and sent to study in Moscow, where he graduated from the Institute of Military Conductors. In the capital, he met his future wife. The young moved to Uzbekistan, to the city of Termez, bordering Afghanistan, where their son Valery was born.
When the boy was four years old, the family moved to Kazakhstan. Then Valery Khalilov’s musical journey began - he learned to play the piano and quite quickly began performing on stage. When he was 11 years old, the family moved to Moscow. There Valery entered the Moscow military music school.
Later, entering M Oskov Suvorov Military music school, Khalilov almost “flew” - he received a bad mark in mathematics, but thanks to the authority of his father, the boy was still allowed to retake the exam.
The conductor recalled all his teachers with gratitude and said that the school had an amazing teaching staff. The cadets always took an example from their teachers - politeness, culture and discipline.
One and a half meters of talent
When young Khalilov entered the military conducting department of the Moscow Conservatory, his height was only 156 centimeters. The selection committee asked: “Why are you so small? You will need a high stand on the stage!” However, the applicant brilliantly passed the entrance exams and was accepted into the conservatory, where he studied conducting an orchestra and at the same time played the clarinet. After just one year, Khalilov sharply increased in height and by the end of his training he was already 176 centimeters tall.
In 1974, Khalilov got married and, together with his young wife, went to the Leningrad region - there he was sent to lead the orchestra of the Pushkin Military School of Radio Electronics. By the way, during the Great Patriotic War the school had a funny abbreviation - VNOS: air surveillance, warning and communications. Composer Georgy Sviridov served in the same orchestra in the 1940s.
A few years later, when Khalilov had already returned to Moscow, he decided to meet with Sviridov - a book had been published for the anniversary of the military school, and Khalilov wanted to give one copy to Sviridov and sign the other for himself.
– I bought flowers for Georgy Vasilyevich’s wife at the Belorussky station, I was very worried, I was still smoking at that time.<...>I asked him: “Why didn’t you write military marches? After all, you served during the war.” He replied: “To write marches, you need to do a lot of service. Then you will understand what it is.” He was right.
Chief military conductor of Russia
For more than 14 years, Valery Khalilov was the main military conductor of Russia - from 2002 to 2016 he headed the military orchestra service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (otherwise it was called the ensemble, or orchestra, of the Russian Ministry of Defense). In May 2016, he was appointed director and artistic director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A. V. Alexandrov, remaining for many the main military conductor of Russia.
The conductor must be a dictator. A good dictator. It must be very demanding, otherwise nothing will simply work out, because we have a colossal number of people and a minimal amount of time. If during this period I show gentleness, this will lead to moral relaxation of the team. And these are still military units that are accustomed to commands. That's how it should be
Valery Khalilov
But Khalilov was also demanding of himself. He worked a lot, including to popularize military bands. Since 2007, on his initiative, the Spasskaya Tower festival began to be held. Khalilov became the musical director of the festival, which annually attracts the best military musicians from around the world. Large-scale opening and closing ceremonies of the festivals took place on Red Square and attracted tens of thousands of spectators.
Since 2009, the guest of each festival has been the famous singer Mireille Mathieu, who always gladly accepted Valery Khalilov’s offer to perform at the Spasskaya Tower.
Now it is difficult to imagine someone who can, with the same dedication and with the same passion, revive the performances of military bands in open areas. In 2017, from August 26 to September 3, Khalilov planned to hold the tenth anniversary Spasskaya Tower festival, which was to become the largest musical event in the life of Moscow and Russia. Now, apparently, the festival will be dedicated not only to the anniversary, but also to the memory of Valery Khalilov.
Chief military conductor.
Head of the military band service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Artistic Director of the Academic Ensemble
songs and dances of the Russian Army named after A.V. Alexandrov.
Valery Khalilov was born on January 30, 1952 in the city of Termez, Republic of Uzbekistan. He grew up in the family of a military conductor. At the age of four he began composing music. From the age of 11 he became a student at the military music school in Moscow. From 1970 to 1975 he studied at the military conducting department at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky in the class of Professor G.P. Alyavdina.
His first place of service, as a conductor, was the orchestra of the Pushkin Higher Military Command School of Air Defense Radioelectronics. In 1980, the orchestra led by Khalilov took first place in the competition of military bands of the Leningrad Military District. In 1981, Khalilov was transferred as a teacher to the military conducting department of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky. In 1984 he transferred to the management of the military orchestra service of the USSR Armed Forces.
From 2002 to 2016, Khalilov served as Head of the Military Band Service of the Russian Federation and Chief Military Conductor. In this position, he repeatedly acted as conductor of a combined military orchestra that took part in Parades dedicated to Victory Day on Red Square. Later he became a member of the board of trustees of the Academy of Festive Culture.
In December 2006 he received the rank of major general. In 2010 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Member of the Union of Composers of Russia.
In April 2016, Valery Khalilov was appointed to the position of Head of the Ensemble - Artistic Director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A. V. Alexandrov.
Khalilov organized many festive theatrical events, in which both military brass bands of Russia and groups from many countries of the world took part. Among these events were such international military music festivals as “Kremlin Dawn” and “Spasskaya Tower”. He was the musical director of the international military music festivals “Spasskaya Tower”, “Amur Waves” in the city of Khabarovsk, “March of the Century”, and the International Military Music Festival in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
He toured with the leading orchestras of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Austria, Sweden, the USA, Hungary, Germany, North Korea, Mongolia, Poland, Finland, France, Switzerland, Belgium. Peru Khalilov owns works for brass band: “Adagio”, “Elegy”, marches - “Cadet”, “Youth”, “Rynda”, “Ulan”, romances and songs.
Valery Mikhailovich Khalilov died on December 25, 2016 in a plane crash of a Russian Ministry of Defense plane in the city of Sochi, heading to Syria. A total of 92 people died, including 64 artists of the Alexandrov ensemble he headed, almost the entire choir and some of the orchestra’s musicians - accordion and balalaika players.
For his services in his professional activities, he was awarded the Honorary title “People’s Artist of the Russian Federation.” Awarded the Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" III degree, the Order of Honor, and medals of the USSR and Russia. Winner of the award of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the field of culture and art in the “Musical Art” category.
Sputnik, Badri Esiava.
House in Gagra
The fact that the life of the chief conductor Valery Khalilov was closely connected with Abkhazia, and his wife was from the resort town of Gagra, was known to few people in the republic. this was not written about in the media and no one spoke loudly. According to the story of Member of the Parliament of Abkhazia Anzor Kokoskeria, he was lucky enough to be not only Khalilov’s neighbor, but also to become his “younger brother.”
“Valery Khalilov’s wife, Natalya, is from Gagra. She wanted to build a small house not far from her father’s plot. The Khalilov family turned to my friends who are engaged in construction, and they, in turn, to me, since they knew that I live on this street,” Kokoskeria recalled.
Kokoskeria said that the Khalilovs did not come often, about once every six months for two or three weeks. Despite their short stay in Abkhazia, their families became very friendly, spent a lot of time at the common table and always tried to help each other.
Anzor Kokosrkeria remembered Valery Khalilov as a good-natured, sympathetic person who knew how to respect the traditions and culture of the country in which he was located. Kokoskeria noted that in his worldview, behavior and moral principles, Valery was very close to the Abkhaz people.
“I even have photographs where Valery helps me make wine. He could come himself and offer to help chop wood, for example. Valery was physically a very strong man, he loved to work, his yard was always clean. He was not just for me a friend, but an older brother,” Anzor Kokoskeria said with the bitterness of loss.
© Photo: / from the personal archive of Anzor Kokoskeria
Valery Khalilov’s humanity and responsiveness were limitless, Kokoskeria noted. He was ready to help, naturally, not only in Abkhazia, but wherever he had such an opportunity.
Anzor recalled that several years ago he had health problems. He went to Moscow. Natalya Khalilova, Valery’s wife, agreed to place him in one of the best military hospitals in the Russian capital. When they asked her who this person was for whom they were asking so much, she replied that this was the son of Valery Khalilov.
“They have two daughters, but no son. Natalya called me the son who built them a house,” Kokoskeria said.
Valery Khalilov met his wife in Gagra back in the Soviet years, he was an ordinary soldier and conquered young Natalya with his ability to play musical instruments beautifully.
Anzor Kokoskeria shared that he still cannot believe what happened and still hopes that Valery Khalilov had a chance to survive.
Gentle "sorcerer" with a conductor's baton
Former first deputy prosecutor general of Abkhazia Beslan Kvitsinia met Valery Khalilov in 2009 in Moscow. Khalilov’s ability to find a common language, spiritual simplicity and sincerity quickly brought them closer together. Kvitsinia even managed to personally see the rehearsal of the military orchestra, conducted by Khalilov.
Kvitsinia was surprised how deftly Khalilov controlled so many musicians with just one wave of his baton.
“I asked how such a large orchestra listens to him, especially when they play on the street or on the parade ground. Valery laughed and said that on Victory Day in the Second World War he had to bring out 1,200 musicians, and he is now thinking and conjuring how best to do this.” ,” recalled Beslan Kvitsinia.
Indeed, Valery Khalilov managed to cope with such a difficult task with honor, Kvitsinia added. He watched in amazement as during the military parade in honor of the 65th anniversary of the victory in the Second World War, a military orchestra proudly, beautifully and harmoniously walked across Red Square.
And when Valery Khalilov came to Abkhazia for one of the Victory Days in the Patriotic War of the people of Abkhazia, his friend Beslan Kvitsinia asked him how he liked the Abkhaz orchestra. To which the conductor smiled and noted the good performance of the musicians.
“Next time it will be possible to invite the military orchestra of the Southern Federal District to arrange a real celebration,” Khalilov said then.
According to the memoirs of Kvitsiniya, Valery Khalilov was in love with Abkhazia and was very worried about it. He could not come to terms with the fact that the republic could not completely move away from the war, and people could not find peace.
“Why does everything have to be like this? People should live peacefully here, you can’t even talk loudly here,” Khalilov complained.
Valery Khalilov also loved the nature of Abkhazia very much. When he had the opportunity to come to Abkhazia, he spent a lot of time at sea, and the rest of the time in the garden, Beslan said.
“We often gathered at the Khalilovs’ home in Gagra, where he masterfully played the piano for us. He was an amazing person, very attentive. He never deprived us of attention, always congratulated us on the holidays,” Beslan emphasized.
The soloist of the Mosconcert (mezzo-soprano), who has performed more than once in the Pitsunda Organ Hall with Abkhaz artists, was lucky enough to work with the master of the Russian military orchestra Valery Khalilov in the early 2000s at a festival of sacred music. She remembered Khalilov as a calm, but very demanding person in his work.
“In the early 2000s, we held festivals of Sacred music together with Khalilov and composer Boris Feoktistov. Despite the fact that Valery Mikhailovich was a military man, he was not tough. He was demanding, but soft,” said Suchkova-Gavriilova.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Sunday morning that at 5.40 Moscow time the mark of the Tu-154 aircraft, which was performing a scheduled flight from the Adler airfield, disappeared from the radar.
According to updated data from the ministry, there were 84 passengers and eight crew members on board the aircraft - military personnel, artists of the Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble, who were flying to congratulate the Russian Aerospace Forces air group on the New Year at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria, and nine representatives of the Russian media.
Valery Khalilov Chief military conductor of the Russian Federation: biography, achievements, photos. On December 25, 2016, after taking off from Sochi, the artistic director of the Alexandrov Ensemble, Valery Khalilov, tragically died. The tragedy occurred at 5:40 am when an airliner flying to Syria crashed into the Black Sea. There were 92 people on board the plane, including 64 members of the ensemble. Also on board the crashed ship were military personnel and Doctor Lisa, who were flying to congratulate the people of Syria and Russian military personnel on the New Year.
Valery Khalilov was born in Uzbekistan, in the family of a military conductor on January 30, 1952. He started composing music at age 4. And at the age of 11, his parents sent the boy to a military music school in Moscow. After graduating, he became the conductor of the Pushkin Higher School of Radioelectronics of Russian Air Defense. In 1980, his orchestra took first place in the competition of military bands of the Leningrad district. He was transferred as a teacher to the military conducting department of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, then to the eagles of the military orchestra service of the USSR Armed Forces.
From 2002 until today he was the Chief Military Conductor.
Valery Khalilov Chief military conductor of the Russian Federation: biography, achievements, photos. In April 2016, Khalilov was appointed to the position of Head of the Ensemble. Valery Mikhailovich was the organizer of many theatrical and festive events. He has many awards and medals. He was a deeply religious man.