Jan Bosdriesz leaves for Moldova to make a movie about Piotr Leshchenko

The well-known Dutch director Jan Bosdriesz will make a movie about the popular Russian dancer and singer Piotr Leshchenko, as he spent his childhood in Chisinau and a part of his life – in Bucharest. According to the assistant director Edwin Trommelen, the author of “Turkish Delight”, “The Province” and others, intends to film a documentary about the Russian legend Piotr Leshchenko. Born in 1898 in Isaevo village in Basarabia, at present Odessa region, Leshchenko came to Chisinau in 1909 with the second family of his mother, who remarried after the death of his father. He spent all his childhood in Chisinau. After Basarabia united with Romania, Leshchenko worked at “Scena” theatrical company where he started the carrier of dancer and singer. He gave concerts in the cities and villages in Romania, stages in Paris, Riga, London and other cities of the world. In 1936 he opens the restaurant “Leshchenko” on Calea Victoriei in Bucharest. There he was delighting the clients with his songs, the most well known of them being “Oci ciornyie”, “Poslednede tango”, “U samovara”. In the same year, he was heard and was highly appreciated by the great singer Fiodor Saleapin, who was invited in Leshchenko’s restaurant. He accompanied several times the Russian singer Alla Baianova at the concerts given in Bucharest. On July 16 1954 Piotr Leshchenko died in a prison hospital in Romania. Edwin Trommelen told Info-Prim Neo that the Dutch director Jan Bosdriesz intends to come to Chisinau to learn more about the life of the artist during the period he lived in Basarabia. The director hopes to meet people who personally met the great singer and who remember Piotr Leshchenko, the cited source says. At the same time, the director hopes to present the atmosphere of the Eastern Europe of XX century’s 30s. According to Trommelen, the director is more enthusiastic about coming to Moldova after he found out that recently a street in Chisinau had been named after Piotr Leshchenko. The shooting crew will visit Chisinau during March 24-26.