Yakiv Stepanovych Kalishevskyi (* 8 (21) October 1856, Chyhyryn - † 9 November 1923, Kyiv) was a Ukrainian choral conductor.
From the age of nine, he studied at the Cherkasy Theological School, where he was appointed sub-regent of the school choir. He graduated from the Kyiv-Podilsk Theological School, and during his studies was a soloist in the choir of the Kyiv Theological Academy.
Yakiv Kalishevskyi and the choir
He joined the Lavra Choir at the Near Caves and worked as a regent there in 1871-1872.
In 1873-1874, he organised a choir of employees of S. V. Kulzhenko's printing house.
He was a member of an opera company, then in Kharkiv he worked in an Italian company.
In the late 1870s, he returned to Kyiv and sang in the Russian opera - for the interludes of Y. Setov.
He organised a theatre choir at the Savin Theatre, which he directed in 1878-1879.
In 1882, he founded a choir, which included employees of H. Korchak-Novytskyi's photo-lino printing house.
From 1883 to 1920, he directed a church choir in Kyiv.
On 11 October 1884, at the Kyiv premiere of Eugene Onegin, he performed the role of Triquet.
At the request of Governor General Oleksandr Drenteln, Kalishevskyi worked with the Sulymivka Choir for several years, performing for Emperor Alexander III in 1885. The success of his performance helped him on his creative path - in 1886, Metropolitan Platon invited him to lead the Metropolitan Choir of St Sophia Cathedral.
In 1890, he received an invitation from Governor-General Oleksii Ihnatiev to Volyn "to correct and manage" the bishops' choir during the foundation of the cathedral in Rivne in the presence of Emperor Oleksandr III.
On 27 October 1893, Kalishevsky had the sad mission of performing Tchaikovsky's funeral services in Kyiv at the Kyiv Music School and in the church of St Volodymyr's University.
His pupils were so well trained that Oleksandr Koshyts noted in his Memoirs that in 1898, when he was recruiting a choir of small singers at the Kyiv Theological Academy, he was involved in a "hunt" for singers trained by Kalishevsky.
In June 1919, together with Yakiv Yatsynevych, he headed the newly created Mykola Lysenko Choir, with Mykola Leontovych as its commissioner.
In 1920, during the battles for Kyiv, one of the artillery shellings became tragic for Kalishevskyi - he was wounded in the leg, and it had to be amputated. However, he continued to lead the choir of St Sophia.
He died in terrible poverty and alone.
From his creative work
Author of songs and arrangements for the choir. As a singer, his artistic repertoire included more than fifty roles in Italian and Russian operas and operettas
as a tenor - Trike from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin,
Lord Arthur in Lucia di Lammermoor by G. Donizetti,
as baritone - Matchmaker from The Mermaid by O. Dargomyzhsky,
as bass - Prince Gudal from A. Rubinstein's The Demon.
