About
Biography
Yury Vashchuk was born on January 24, 1983, in the village of Khidry. After four years of studying the bayan, he became a laureate of the international competition “Podsnezhniki” (“Praleski”). His first serious competition was the TV project “Zvyozdnoye raskrytie” (“Zornaya Rostan'”). In 2000, he was invited to work with the National Concert Orchestra of Belarus under the direction of Mikhail Finberg. In 2008, he graduated from the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts.
He was the host of the program “Vperyod v proshloe” (“Naperad u minulaye”), which aired on the channels “Belarus 3” and “Belarus 24”.
From 2011 to 2014, he received several national music awards, including the “Lira” awards: “Discovery of the Year” (2011), “Best Arranger” (2012), “Best Music Author” (for the song “Belarus Velykaya” with Leonid Shirin, 2013), “Best Performer of the Year” (2014), and “Best Song of the Year” (“Cheesecake”, 2014).
Based on the results of the National Selection Tour organized by Belteleradiocompany for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, he received an award from the jury and the “Crystal Heart” statuette for the song “Cheesecake”. On May 8, in the second semi-final, Vashchuk, under the pseudonym TEO, performed in the semifinal, securing Belarus a spot in the final. On May 10, 2014, TEO performed as the 2nd participant in the final and placed 16th.
On 3 December, 2015, Teo gave a huge solo concert in the Minsk Concert Hall in Minsk. In November 2016, Teo teamed up with his wife Olya Rizhikova for the song and video “Nam ochen”. In March 2017 they performed together in the Minsk Concert Hall. They released another song together in January 2018, “Po tonkomu l’du” and the solo song “Begu”. Teo and Olya hosted the 2018 national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. In July of the same year, Teo released another solo single, “Yukhu”.
In November 2019, Olya and Teo released a new song, “Blizhe”, followed by “Kto kome nas” in July 2020. In March 2021, “Murashki po koje” came out.
Teo and Olya performed at the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk. They sang “Ty moy kosmos”. In October 2022 the video of the song came out.