Viktor Ivanovych Kysil (22 March 1950, Nova Mayachka village, Tsiurupynskyi district, Kherson region - 2 May 2021) was a Ukrainian ethnographer, teacher-methodologist of the Kherson Professional College of Musical Art of the Kherson Regional Council, artistic director and conductor of the Ukrainian Music Orchestra "Venzerada", Honoured Worker of Culture of Ukraine (2002).
He was born in 1950 in the village of Nova Mayachka, Tsiurupynsk district, Kherson region. His parents were postmen.
In 1957, he began his studies at Kakhovka Secondary School No. 2, and in 1959 - at Kakhovka Children's Music School. After graduating from school in 1965, Viktor Kysil entered the Kherson Music College, Department of Folk Instruments, class of accordion.
He studied at the Department of Folk Instruments of the Kyiv Conservatory (1969-1974). He has a degree in conducting.
He taught at the Sumy Music College for a year and a half. In November 1976, Viktor Kysil was dismissed from his position due to being drafted into the Soviet Army. He served for a year as an accordionist of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In November 1977, after moving to Kherson, he worked at the local history museum, the regional library, and the Centre for Folk Art.
Later he taught at the Kherson Music College.
After the declaration of Ukraine's independence, he created a folklore ensemble, which later became the Venzerada Orchestra of Ukrainian Folk Instruments of the Kherson Music School, and was its permanent director. The repertoire of the orchestra included arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs, which the teacher recorded and arranged mainly in the Kherson region, as well as original works by Ukrainian composers arranged by Viktor Kysil for the orchestra of Ukrainian folk instruments. Viktor Ivanovych arranged 11 episodes from S. Hulak-Artemovskyi's opera Zaporozhets Beyond the Danube, winter calendar songs, the rifleman song I'm Going Beyond the Neman, etc. for the Wencerada Orchestra.
In December 2017, the Kyiv publishing house Art Veles presented the Anthology of Traditional Music of Ukraine, consisting of 10 CDs. The ninth, "South", consists of 80% of his recordings.
He is married and has a son.
Social activities.
During the summer holidays, every year since 1978, Viktor Ivanovych went on folklore expeditions to the villages of Tavria, and then, in his free time, he deciphered unique recordings made in remote corners of the region. He was concerned about the disappearance of Ukrainian folk traditions and ethnic music. To preserve the living language, he travelled to villages to collect folklore. Viktor Ivanovych managed to collect a phonographic library of folklore from the Kherson region on the basis of the Arts Department of the Oles Honchar Kherson Regional Universal Scientific Library.
In 1989, at the initiative of Viktor Kysil, Ivan Nemchenko, Olena Marushchak and others, a branch of the Ukrainian Language Society was established in Kherson, and Viktor Ivanovych Kysil was unanimously elected its head. On his initiative, every year the Tumivtsi members organised and held the Unity Day of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko Day, and Mother's Day in the assembly halls of the Kherson Music College. After the Ukrainian Language Society in Kherson was reorganised into the city organisation of the Prosvita Society, Kysil resigned as its chairman. In subsequent years, he organised patriotic events at the music school and near the bust of Taras Shevchenko.
Awards.
Honoured Worker of Culture of Ukraine (26.02.2002)
Medal "Builder of Ukraine" (2005)
Order of Merit, III class (2.10.2009)[2]
Award of the President of Ukraine "25 Years of Independence of Ukraine" (2017)
Order of Merit, II class (3.10.2019)
