Education
He received his initial musical education at his family home, and then improved his skills in Prussia (under the supervision of G. Endom) and in Minsk (under the supervision of K.Krzyzanowski).
He received his initial musical education at his family home, and then improved his skills in Prussia (under the supervision of G. Endom) and in Minsk (under the supervision of K.Krzyzanowski).
The musician started to give concerts very early and soon became famous as an accomplished violinist. His concerts were of great success in Belarus and Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland, France and Germany. In Paris he took lessons from the world famous violinist H.Vieuxtemps, who was his close friend. Having returned to Dudzichy, M.Yelsky did not stop performing, dedicating, however, more time to composing.
The composer paid much attention to Belarusian traditional music; he collected and wrote down the samples of instrumental folk music of Minsk area.