Ostap Ivanovych Havrysh (born December 9, 1951[1], Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian composer, author of more than a thousand musical works and popular songs. Honored Artist of Ukraine (since 1996)[2]. People's Artist of Ukraine
He was born on December 9, 1951 in Kosovo, where he graduated from high school and the School of Arts, majoring in accordion.
He studied at the Lviv Institute of Physical Culture and the Ivano-Frankivsk Denys Sichynsky Music College, but did not graduate.
He performed in the vocal and instrumental ensemble Berkut at the Ivano-Frankivsk Philharmonic. He wrote a number of songs based on poems by poets: Stepan Halyabarda - "I Carry My Cross," "I Will Return to Ukraine," "Chumaks," "My Love is Your Sorrow," "Heart is Anxious in Dreams"; Volodymyr Hryhorak - "Evening Song"; V. Stelmakh - "That's the Story" (for the play "Marusya Churai" by Lina Kostenko, first performed in Canada); Vasyl Hostiuk - "And the Linden Trees Bloom" and Vasyl Hlibchuk - "Red Viburnum, Take Off Your Black Shawl" from Kosiv.
In 2006, the Kyiv Jewelry Factory and Ostap Havrysh presented the musical film Where the Fir Trees Are Slender.
Ostap Havrysh's songs were performed by Nazariy Yaremchuk, Ivo Bobul, Svitlana Bilonozhko, Pavlo Zibrov, Nadiya Shestak, and Ivan Krasovsky. His daughter Mariana also made her debut as a singer.
He lives permanently in Kyiv.
Ostap Havrysh is a composer, People's Artist of Ukraine, author of famous songs known and loved in Ukraine and abroad. The composer's first works were performed in 1971 by the rock band "Hutsuly" from Kosovo, in which the author himself took part.
Since 1973, Ostap Havrysh's works have been performed by professional groups, including the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Philharmonic's Berkut band with the songs "Yablunevyi Tsvit" and "Charivna Kalyna" and the Hudaki band from Uzhhorod. Since then, the songs have been spreading throughout Ukraine.
However, the mysterious death of the famous composer Volodymyr Ivasyuk, followed by the composer Volodymyr Yatsola in 1979 deeply affected Ostap Havrysh, and his silence in music lasted until 1988. However, the talented composer could no longer be restrained, and works were born that awakened a sense of dignity and self-respect in the hearts of Ukrainians. These songs include "Otaka Istoriya" (lyrics by Bohdan Stelmakh) performed by the author and famous singer Vitaliy Bilonozhko, and "I'll Come Back to Ukraine" (lyrics by Stepan Halabarda), which was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the first settlement of Ukrainians in Canada and sung by Ivo Bobul.
At that time, Ukrainian radio and television broadcast works that highlighted the tragic pages of our nation: "Save, God" - the Chornobyl disaster (lyrics by Stepan Halabarda, performances by Vitaliy Bilonozhko) and "Chumaks". Along with the civil songs, the composer presents his admirers with a number of songs that rightfully become folk songs: "And the linden trees are blooming" (performed by Lilia Sandulesa and Ivo Bobul), "White flower on the viburnum" (performed by Pavlo Zibrov), "Where the mountains are blue", "Flower-enchantress" (lyrics by Vadym Kryshchenko), "Night of Love" (performed by the band "Dzvony"), "Blizzard" (lyrics by Neonila Stefurak), "Where the fir trees are slender" (lyrics by Vasyl Hostiuk) - performed by Vasyl Zinkevych, and others. Vasyl Zinkevych, "At the Waterfall", "November is Playing" - exec. Nadiia Shestak, "I Carry My Cross" - Lilia Sandulesa, "Two Dawns" - Ivan Matsialko. The talent of Vitaliy Bilonozhko is revealed in new colors in the songs of Ostap Havrysh - "White Island" (lyrics by Neonila Stefurak), "I Live in Song" (lyrics by Nadiya Dychka), "Wait Until Summer", "I'm Looking at You" (lyrics by Vasyl Hostiuk), "Apples Fell" (lyrics by Stepan Pushyk) and others. These works and many others become winners and laureates of the most prestigious Ukrainian contemporary music festival "Song Vernissage" and "Song of the Year".
A bright page in Ostap Havrysh's work was his collaboration with the popular singer Nazariy Yaremchuk. Their creative friendship began on January 1, 1993, and lasted until the singer's last days (June, 1995). It resulted in nine works (his life ended on the tenth song), which were widely recognized by the audience. Wherever the songs were performed, whether in their native Carpathians (where both of them came from, Nazariy from Vyzhnytsia, where Levko Dutkivsky founded the Smerichka ensemble; Ostap from Kosiv) or in the eastern regions of Ukraine, the songs surprised with their Hutsul melodies, Ukrainian folk intonations, and their unique melodiousness. Great gratitude to these two talented artists has become a real decoration of Ukrainian song. "Pour, shynkarochka", "Where the fir trees are slender", "There, beyond the roads", "Forget", "Give me, my beloved, a flower", "Play, dudaryk", "Rifleman's romance", "Vihola", "Chervona kalyna, throw off the black shawl" are still played on Ukrainian radio and television, reminding us of the wonderful voice of the unforgettable Nazariy Yaremchuk. These works were supported by Ukrainian talented youth, who successfully bring Ostap Havrysh's music to people.
Ostap Havrysh's multifaceted music led him to spiritual song, where he co-authored the musical "Ten Commandments of God" - "Praise the Almighty" - performed by young artists at the time, to mark the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. Sixty concerts were staged in different parts of the Carpathian region, where songs inspired by God were performed on the stages of villages and cities. Unfortunately, these performances were not enough, because they wanted the work to find a wider resonance among people of different faiths, and there is hope that the Ten Commandments of God will return to the big stage and to television screens around the world, because with the necessary financial support the composer intends to make a musical film so that the word of God can move millions of people.
Today, composer Ostap Havrysh is working on writing new works, continuing to collaborate with both well-known and young performers in Ukraine, and he has special hopes for his daughter Marianna, who has the opportunity to become a famous artist.
A great chord of love for his native land is the musical film "Where the Fir Trees Are Slender," where his music, based on folk motifs, is intertwined in a wreath of life and everyday life of the inhabitants of the Carpathians - the Hutsuls. After all, the composer's work is an integral part of Hutsul folk art.
It was a great pain in his heart when three years ago he had to perform in Rome for Ukrainian migrant workers on Easter, where 6-7 thousand Ukrainians were present. In front of the composer on the stage in front of St. Sophia's Cathedral stood healthy, hardworking Ukrainian women and men who had been mercilessly punished by fate in their homeland because they wanted only one thing: to provide their families with proper living conditions. And all this experience was reflected in the song "Winds", based on the poem by poet and writer Maria Vlad, which was awarded at the Coronation of the Word.
"Let's Unite, Ukrainians" is a song and all his creative energy aimed at establishing the Ukrainian nation in the world, and a happy life for Ukrainians around the globe. And this is confirmed by the project "From Hoverla to Ai-Petri," which aims to unite Ukrainians from west to east through the prism of Ukrainian song, by bringing the composer's work to the people of all regions of Ukraine.
On December 9, 2012, Ostap Havrysh launched the first Ukrainian project Music and Ice, a benefit concert by Ostap Havrysh and an ice show by the Dmytro Dmytrenko Theater.
