Volodymyr Mykhailovych Ivasiuk (March 4, 1949, Kitsman, Chernivtsi region, Ukrainian SSR, USSR - April 24/27, 1979, Bryukhovychi Forest near Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, USSR) was a Ukrainian composer-performer, musician, multi-instrumentalist (he owned several musical instruments: violin, piano, cello, guitar), poet. Hero of Ukraine (2009, posthumously). Winner of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize (1994, posthumously), the Mykola Ostrovsky Republican Prize of the Komsomol (1988, posthumously), and the nomination "For Contribution to the Development of the Musical Culture of Ukraine in the XX Century" (2001, posthumously). Son of the writer Mykhailo Ivasyuk.
One of the founders of Ukrainian pop music. Author of 107 songs, 53 instrumental pieces, and music for several performances. He was a professional doctor, violinist, piano, cello, guitar player, songwriter, and painter.
On May 18, 1979, he was found hanged in the Bryukhovychi forest near Lviv. The official Soviet version of his death, a suicide, was questioned by the public both then and now. According to the unofficial version, Ivasyuk's death was a murder committed by the KGB on the orders of the top leadership of the USSR. Volodymyr Ivasyuk's funeral on May 22, 1979, in Lviv turned into a mass protest against the Soviet regime.
The archives of this case, which are stored in Moscow, are still not open to Ivasyuk's relatives or museum staff, citing the classification as "secret," perhaps because many participants in those dramatic events are still alive. Ivasyuk's relatives themselves believe that Volodymyr was murdered.
On January 26, 2009, the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine reopened the long-closed criminal case on the death of Volodymyr Ivasyuk, but in November 2012, the case was closed allegedly due to the lack of corpus delicti.
On June 12, 2014, the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine reopened the closed criminal case on the death of Volodymyr Ivasyuk.
In February 2015, former Lviv Regional Prosecutor Roman Fedyk stated that Volodymyr Ivasyuk was killed by "KGB officers".
On June 13, 2019, the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise concluded that the composer-performer Volodymyr Ivasyuk could not have physically committed suicide.
Awards.
Diploma winner of the All-Union Review of Young Composers (1978).
Laureate of the Republican Komsomol Prize named after M. Ostrovsky (1988, posthumously)
Laureate of the Taras Shevchenko State Prize of Ukraine (1994, posthumously).
Hero of Ukraine (March 2009, posthumously)
Works
Songs in his own words
"The cranes were flying away",
"I will go to the distant mountains",
"Red Ruta",
"Waterfall",
"Song will be among us",
"Love Blooms Only Once",
"Ballad of the Mallows",
"I am your wing",
"Welcome",
"Like a Flock of Birds,
"Lullaby",
"Traveling Music",
"Two Rings",
"Over the Mountain, Behind the Flintstone",
"The Hat"
and others.
Collection of piano works by V. Ivasyuk, published by Drohobych Pedagogical University, 2006
Songs based on the words of various poets,
including Dm. Pavlychko, O. Honchar, B. Stelmakh, M. Petrenko, Y. Rybchynsky, R. Bratun, R. Kudlyk, and others (over 40).
"Fate Has Its Own Spring," "Maple Fire," "Summer of Late Dahlias," "Ballad of Two Violins," "The World Without You" to lyrics by Vasyl Babukh, and others.
For choir
Suite (a cycle of arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs) for unaccompanied choir (1978).
Instrumental works
Suite of Variations on the Theme of the Ukrainian Folk Song "Dry Willow" (1977),
Suite-Variations for Chamber Orchestra (1977),
three pieces for piano,
"Autumn Picture" - for cello,
three pieces for violin,
music for the play "The Standard Bearers" (1975, fragments have been preserved).
