Hnyd Bohdan Pylypovych (b. 28 June 1940, Yosypivka village, Busk district, Lviv region - d. 27 January 2004, Kyiv) - Soviet and Ukrainian singer (bass), translator, historian of vocal art, teacher, professor (1997). Laureate of the All-Ukrainian Military Song Contest (Kyiv, 1965). Honoured Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1983).
He was born in the village of Yosypivka, near Olesko, Lviv region. His father was Hnyd Pylyp Fedorovych, and his mother was Teklia Ivanivna from the Yatsko family. There were six children in the family. His father had a wonderful voice, knew music, and was a sexton in the village church.
In 1954, he graduated from a seven-year school in Yosypivka. He received his secondary education at the Oleska school. Here Bohdan attended a drama club and sang in the choir. Even then, the young man showed remarkable vocal abilities. He later wrote about his years of study, his school, how he was forced to join the Komsomol, and the history of Olesko in his memoirs Bohdan. Memoirs", published in 2006.
When he was a young boy, Bohdan realised that he had to make himself. He worked hard on himself: he read a lot, learned different languages and history on his own. This could not but bear fruit - the young man had encyclopaedic knowledge. Another hobby was sports. At school, he played in the football team, and as a student at the food industry college, he won prizes as an athlete.
From 1957 to 1961, he studied at the Lviv Food Industry College (Mechanical Department).
He came to music through amateur choirs. Another musical episode on his way to becoming a musician was the brass band of the food industry college, in which he was not only the headmaster, but also a soloist-vocalist. In parallel with his studies at the college, he attended preparatory courses at the Lviv Conservatory, majoring in singing. Bohdan was persuaded to enter the conservatoire by the director of an amateur choir, Ihor Zhuk. He also advised the young man to join the Gomin choir, which was led by Yevhen Vakhniak at the time. The final impetus to pursue music education was an unsuccessful attempt to join the Veriovka choir.
He studied at the Lviv Conservatory (1960-1964) in the class of Associate Professor Tetiana Logvis, who made a lot of effort to develop Bohdan as a bass singer. In 1964, he transferred to the Tchaikovsky Kyiv State Conservatoire for his third year of studies. However, he was drafted into the army, where he sang in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Army of the Kyiv Military District. He was a soloist of the choir (senior sergeant of the extended service) until 1971. During this time, he performed at 743 concerts in different parts of the then Soviet Union. At the same time, he continued his studies at the Kyiv Conservatory in the class of Professor Maria Yegorycheva.
In 1970, he graduated from the Conservatory and was enrolled as a soloist (bass) at the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv Opera House. In 1971, he first appeared on the opera stage in the role of Baron Dufault in Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata. That same year, he went on tour for the first time in the UK, then a country of the capitalist camp. Subsequently, he toured the USA, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Belgium, Russia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
In 1983, Bohdan Hnid was awarded the honorary title of Honoured Artist of the Ukrainian SSR.
Since 1984, he has been a lecturer at the Kyiv Conservatory at the Department of Solo Singing, and since 1997, he has been a professor. He developed and delivered a course of lectures on the history of vocal performance. He is the author of the first Ukrainian-language textbook "History of Vocal Art" (Kyiv, 1997), the collection "Performing Schools of Ukraine. Department of Solo Singing of the NMAU" (2002). He was published in the publications of the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, in periodicals, and wrote poetry.
On 6 August 1989, while on holiday in his native Yosypivka, he took part in a Divine Liturgy at the monument to Markiyan Shashkevych. This holiday on Bila Hora, which had been banned since 1944, became a landmark event for the locals, an awakening from political sleep.
Bohdan Hnid passed away on 27 January 2004. He was buried in his native village of Yosypivka.
Creative work
His best opera roles are the Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi), Raymond (Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti), Collen (La bohème by Giacomo Puccini), Geronimo (The Secret Marriage by Domenico Cimarosa), etc.
He has toured the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Belgium, Russia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia.
He conducted extensive scientific work. Well versed in Italian, as well as Polish and German, Bohdan Hnyd translated opera librettos into Ukrainian, in particular: "The Secret Marriage" by D. Cimarosa (in the repertoire of the National Opera of Ukraine since 1985), "Porgy and Bess" by G. Gershwin (premiered at the Kyiv Operetta Theatre, 1998), "Norma" by V. Bellini, "Manon Lescaut" by G. Puccini, "Viva la mamma" by G. Donizetti, "Rognida" by O. Serov, etc.
During 1991-2001, he hosted 40 radio programmes about the works of prominent Ukrainian singers on the World Service of Radio "Ukraine".
Among his students were R. Smolyar, O. Chornoshchokov, V. Chemer, T. Usenko, V. Haiduk, Y. Fedynskyi (USA), K. Levytskyi, V. Kondratiuk, and Jang Soo Jin (Korea).
Bohdan Hnyd's personal archive is kept in the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine. The archive contains documents, creative materials, diaries, notebooks with "creative notes", research papers, lecture notes on the history of vocal performance, translations of opera librettos, articles, texts of radio programmes about opera singers and performance skills, personal belongings of the singer and his family members, all the literature published by him, articles about him, photographs, albums, etc.
Filmography
"Faust" (1982, film-opera) - Wagner (voiceover, the role of Geldur Saade)
Family.
In 1971, he married Svitlana Mateiuk, a graduate of the Kyiv Conservatory, a soloist of the Opera Studio at the Kyiv Conservatory.
Brother: Hnyd Volodymyr Pylypovych (b. 1947) is a Ukrainian choral conductor. Honoured Worker of Culture of Ukraine (1998).
