Oratory is taught to actors, politicians, public figures and teachers. Ilya Kurgan has worked as an announcer on the Belarusian radio for over forty years. His voice and speech still remain a role model for the younger generation.
Childhood and youth
Many years have passed since the moment when wired radio was turned off in the CIS countries. This media has been replaced by television and the Internet. In the Soviet Union, as in other civilized countries, radio studio workers were trained in special educational institutions. Ilya Lvovich Kurgan did not prepare for work on the radio. He received his specialized education at the acting department of the Minsk Theater Institute. The beginning artist was predicted a great future. However, everyday reasons and considerations changed the "trajectory" of a professional career.
The future announcer of the Belarusian radio was born on May 26, 1926 in a large family. Parents at that time lived in Minsk. My father worked at a factory. The mother was engaged in housekeeping and raising children. Four sons were growing up in the house. On Ilya, since he was the eldest, the younger brothers were equal. He had to "keep his brand" and in his behavior meet the most stringent requirements. On the street, he did not allow other people's guys to offend his own. I always helped my mother with the housework. He studied well at school and did not violate discipline.
Professional activity
When the war began, the father went to the front, and the mother and children were sent to evacuation. The Belarusians had to spend almost four years in the famous city of Samarkand. Ilya turned 16, and he tried in every possible way to earn some money somewhere. He helped neighbors to knead dung. Then he got a job as a metal carver in a locomotive depot on the railway. At the same time, he managed to master the school curriculum. In 1944, the refugees returned to the liberated Minsk. The next year, Ilya entered the theater institute.
In 1949, Kurgan received a diploma and, according to distribution, was supposed to enter the service in the drama theater of the city of Vitebsk. By this time he was already married. Ilya really did not want to leave his spouse, who was still studying at the institute. The way out of the predicament was found by chance. The young actor saw an advertisement for a competitive recruitment of employees on the central radio. The commission chose Kurgan out of hundreds of applicants. And the new employee turned out to be one of the best announcers in the last fifty years.
Recognition and privacy
Ilya Lvovich's professional career developed progressively. He did not have any blunders or major mistakes. For several years, Kurgan lectured on the basics of stage speech to students of the Academy of Arts. For his great contribution to the development of culture, he was awarded the honorary title "Honored Artist of the Byelorussian SSR."
In Kurgan's personal life, everything was fine. He lived all his life with his beloved wife. The husband and wife raised and raised two sons. Ilya Kurgan passed away in August 2019.
