Bohodar Antonovych Kotorovych (3 July 1941, Hrubeshiv - 4 July 2009, Kyiv) was a Ukrainian violinist, conductor, teacher, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1979). Head of the Violin Department and Professor of the Kyiv Conservatory (since 1985). Laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize (1985).Corresponding Member of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine (1997). One of the founders of the modern Ukrainian violin school. Founder and permanent artistic director of the State Chamber Ensemble "Kyiv Soloists". Father of the famous Ukrainian violinist Myroslava Kotorovych and Anton Kotorovych, a well-known Ukrainian guitarist, violinist, and lead singer of the folk metal band Tin Sontsia.
He was born on 3 July 1941 in the town of Hrubieszew, Kholmshchyna, now Poland. In 1945, the family of the future violinist moved to Volyn, and later to Lviv. The famous Kotorovych family had spiritual and musical traditions. His father, Anton Kotorovych, worked fruitfully in the field of Ukrainian culture in the village of Hospitable and throughout Hrubeshiv district. He made a great contribution to the organisation of choirs. In the village of Hostynne, where Bohodar Kotorovych's grandfather Ivan Kotorovych was a priest of the Christian Orthodox Church, Anton Kotorovych created the best church choir in the Kholm region. The Church of St. George, where Fr. B. Kotorovych's mother, Iryna, also nurtured her children's talent for music, and her sister was a pianist in Dresden.
The future violinist spent his childhood and youth in Lviv, where he graduated from a music school and studied at the Lviv Conservatory for a year. From there, he entered the Moscow Conservatoire, the class of the famous teacher Yuri Yankelevich.
1966 --- The young violinist was invited to teach at the violin department at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Kyiv (now the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy), where he was a professor and headed the violin department from 1985. At the same time, in 1966, at the invitation of the artistic director and chief conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine Stefan Turchak, the talented artist was appointed soloist and concertmaster of the leading orchestra.
1967 --- won the first prize of the International Violin Competition named after J. Enescu (Bucharest).
1971 - Won the Niccolo Paganini Competition in Genoa.
Later Kotorovych had two more symbolic meetings with Paganini: 20 years later he was a member of the jury of the Genoa competition, and in May 1999 he played two sold-out benefit concerts at the National Philharmonic of Ukraine and the National Opera on Paganini's famous Guarneri violin Il Cannone Guarnerius[en], which was brought to Kyiv for two evenings on a special flight from Genoa. for an outstanding Ukrainian. Kotorovych remains the only non-Italian violinist to have played the instrument twice in Ukraine and outside Italy.
1979 - The history of Ukrainian and world culture of the second half of the twentieth century is marked by the newest historical open-air concert series "Night Serenades" (1979-1989), founded by the artist and featuring outstanding world performers. The maestro cared about educating society in the spirit of patriotism through the word of music, conveying to the audience with his unique art outstanding spiritual values.
1984 --- in order to popularise Ukrainian academic music and world classics, the maestro created the chamber instrumental ensemble "Kyiv Soloists" consisting of leading Kyiv performers.
1987 --- creative collaboration with the famous Ukrainian pianist Yevhenia Basalaeva (the Maestro's wife and collaborator) began, which became a significant contribution to the development of national and world music. Presenting Ukrainian culture on the international stage with great success, the chamber and ensemble duo, as the media defined it, "became the hallmark of the state of Ukraine".
1994 - Professor and Head of the Violin Department at the Sydney Conservatory (Australia).
1995 --- By a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, Bohodar Kotorovych was appointed artistic director and director of the Kyiv Soloists ensemble, which was created by the artist and granted the status of a state ensemble --- the State Chamber Ensemble Kyiv Soloists (today - the National Chamber Ensemble Kyiv Soloists).
In 1995, he founded the First International Competition for Young Violinists in Kharkiv, which is named after him. The competition revealed many gifted musicians who are destined to live and work in the new millennium. Their performance level was noted as very high. The jury, which was represented by outstanding musicians from 10 countries, was headed by Bogodar Kotorovich himself.
Bogodar Kotorovych's great authority in the violin world is evidenced by his numerous invitations to serve on the juries of the most famous music competitions, including the Paganini Competition in Genoa, the Lipitzer Competition in Gorizia, and the Paganini Competition in Italy. Lipitzer in Gorizia, G. Wieniawski in Lublin, K. Nielsen in Odense, P. Tchaikovsky in Moscow, T. Wronski in Warsaw, ARD in Munich, I. Menukhin, Sendai, Ottawa and others. The professor has always headed the Mykola Lysenko International Violin Competition in Kyiv. In 2004, he became the artistic director of the Britten Kyiv Festival.
The maestro is one of the founders of the Ukrainian violin school. Numerous of his pupils have won the most famous international competitions of our time, including the G. Wieniawski (Poland), N. Paganini (Italy), D. Oistrakh (Odesa), N. Tsabalet (San Sebastian, Spain), I. Menukhin (Folkestone, UK), the Caltanisetti Competition (Italy), etc.
Graduates of Kotorovych's class have created a galaxy of bright musicians who continue his traditions in different countries of the world, brilliantly representing the achievements of national professional performance. These are, in particular, People's Artists of Ukraine: Kirill Stetsenko, Bohdana Pivnenko, Honoured Artists of Ukraine: Olga Rivnyak and Myroslava Kotorovych; Oleh Kotorovych (New Zealand), Taras Pečeny (Croatia), Alexander Bendersky (France), Petro Tsegelsky, Viktor Kuznetsov (Poland), Serhiy Shot, Svyatoslav Semchuk, Kyrylo Sharapov, Oleksandr Pushkarenko, Anton Kotorovych (Ukraine), Arkadii Vinokurov, Yevhen Andrusenko (Austria), Yaroslav Rudnytskyi (USA), Volodymyr Astrakhantsev (Germany), Dmytro Tkachenko (England), Oleksandr Semchuk, Alina Komisarova (Italy), Anastasia Pilatiuk (Spain), and others.
Bohodar Kotorovych gained the widest recognition and love of the music community as a brilliant performer of virtuoso works by N. Paganini and violin masterpieces by A. Corelli, J.S. Bach, G. Tartini, J. Haydn, W.A. Mozart, L. Beethoven and others. The Maestro's masterful performance of music of different eras and styles has always been accompanied by great success among listeners and experts. A special place in the violinist's repertoire was occupied by works by contemporary Ukrainian composers. Many composers created their compositions specifically for Bohodar Kotorovych, given his wide capabilities as a virtuoso violinist and his unique performance style (A. Shtogarenko, K. Dominchen, M. Skoryk, E. Stankovych, V. Hubarenko, V. Bibik, P. Maiboroda, L. Kolodub, V. Huba and others).
Bohodar Kotorovych has performed numerous concert tours in Australia, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Canada, Macedonia, Germany, Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic, Japan, South Korea, France, as well as in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, and has performed in the best Ukrainian and foreign halls. A wide range of creative possibilities allowed the performer to play both solo and in ensembles, as well as accompanied by chamber and symphony orchestras. He collaborated with prominent musicians, including conductors K. Mazur, Y. Svetlanov, K. Cekki, N. Rakhlin, S. Turchak, M. Shostakovich, I. Blazhkov, S. Sondetskis, V. Kozhukhar, R. Kofman and others.
2021, on the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of 16.12.2020 "On the celebration of memorable dates and anniversaries in 2021", on the occasion of a significant event in Ukrainian culture and world art - the memorable date of the 80th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding violinist Bohodar Kotorovych (1941-2009), the Cultural and Artistic Charitable Foundation "Kyiv-Classic" http://www. kyiv-classic.com [Archived 19 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine] Under the direction of People's Artist of Ukraine Yevheniia Basalaeva, with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the International Project "MAESTRO - FEST. Bohodar Kotorovych" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdxMaXYw4Nk [Archived 1 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. ), which included a number of events aimed at perpetuating the glorious name of the iconic figure of Ukrainian and world art of the XX-XXI centuries, Bohodar Kotorovych, namely the First International Festival-Competition named after Bohodar Kotorovych "MAESTRO-Fest" was held (5 September - 7 October 2021), which was attended by more than a hundred talented instrumentalists from Ukraine and abroad; for the first time, materials of the Maestro's cultural heritage, the unique heritage of the "Family Archive of Bohodar Kotorovych, wife and associate of the Maestro Yevheniia Basalaeva and son Anton" were published; the booklet-book "Bohodar Kotorovych. Fragments of an Unfinished Story", part I of the documentary "The Ways and Steps of Bohodar Kotorovych", the promotional film "Dynasty", etc. The list of events also includes the historic gala concert of the MAESTRO-Fest Festival of Virtuosos (7 November 2021, National Philharmonic of Ukraine).
During his lifetime, the violinist's name became a legend and was forever engraved in the history of national and world art. The creative phenomenon of Bohodar Kotorovych as a musician is unique. This has been emphasised in many domestic and foreign reviews, as well as in written and oral feedback from prominent musicians and critics. Many films and programmes have been made about the artist's career. Bohodar Kotorovych's life was entirely devoted to the service of high art. The Maestro's multifaceted creative and public activities on the way to reviving the deep layers of the spiritual treasury of national culture included support and education of talented youth, wide presentation of Ukrainian art in the world, strengthening of international cultural relations, and the rise of Ukrainian cultural diplomacy.
Bohodar Kotorovych died on 4 July 2009.
He was buried in Kyiv at the Baikove Cemetery (plot No. 52).
Honours.
People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1979).
Laureate of the Taras Shevchenko State Prize (1985).
Laureate of the Vernadskyi Prize (2000).
He was awarded the Order of Merit III degree.
In 1999 and 2000, he was twice awarded the prestigious all-Ukrainian prize "Man of the Year" for his creative work.
Interesting facts
Bohodar Kotorovych is the only Ukrainian violinist in the world who was honoured to give two concerts on the legendary violin "Cannone" by Niccolo Paganini, brought to the outstanding violinist by a special plane from Genoa to Kyiv (1999)
