Ukrainian opera singer (baritone), composer, public figure. Member of the OUN (1931; pseudonym "Prometheus").
Biography.
Born on December 7, 1910 in the village of Bila, now Chortkiv district, Ternopil region, Ukraine (then Chortkiv county, Kingdom of Galicia and Volhynia, Austria-Hungary).
In 1928, he became a member of the Ukrainian Naddniprians Chapel under the direction of Oleksandr Tymchenko.
In 1930-1932, he studied at the Mykola Lysenko Stryi Music Institute. At that time, he directed the Sokil choir of Prosvita for the county holiday. He graduated from the Higher Music Institute in Lviv (modern Lviv National Music Academy named after Mykola Lysenko (1938). He organized choirs and orchestras in the Chortkiv region. In 1939, he made his debut on the stage of the La Scala Theater in Milan (Italy).
Returning to his homeland, he continued his underground activities in the OUN; in the summer of 1941, by order of the leadership, he moved to the Kremenets district. In the village of Vyshhorodok (now in the Lanovets district), he organized the Prometheus Men's Choir.
In May 1943, he was arrested by the Gestapo in Ternopil and later taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp (Germany). In the concentration camp, he overcame the abuse by playing in the camp brass band - the members of the latter were imprisoned musicians from the best European orchestras.
From 1946 to 1948, he improved his vocal skills at the Munich Conservatory with O. Rusnak, trained in Milan with Professor V. Gardini, and then became a soloist at the Munich Opera.
Since 1948 he has lived in Canada (Edmonton). In 1955, he moved to the United States (Glendale), where he opened a singing studio and gave concerts. Since the early 1960s, he has lived in Los Angeles.
He is the author of a number of songs, the best of which were included in the book Songs and Memories of a Banderite (Ternopil, 1995).
In 1990, he published a book of memoirs about Auschwitz, In the Struggle for the Ukrainian State.
