Ukrainian Soviet double bassist and conductor. Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR since 1950. Father of violinist Oleksandr Manilov.
Biography.
He was born on January 4 [16], 1875 in the city of Nizhyn (now Chernihiv region, Ukraine). He received his general and musical education on his own.
Since 1903, he lived in Mykolaiv, led choral and instrumental groups, and collaborated with the local branch of the Prosvita Society. He took part in performances, concerts, and recitals, provided performance and accompaniment of choral and instrumental works, including excerpts from Mykola Arkas's works, Mykola Lysenko's songs and romances based on Taras Shevchenko's words, Kyrylo Stetsenko's cantata "In Memory of Shevchenko," and more. In 1917-1921 he headed the symphony orchestra of the Mykolaiv Philharmonic Society.
In 1925-1954, he led a worker's orchestra of folk instruments at a shipyard, which in the 1930s became a leading orchestra in the Ukrainian SSR and the USSR. He taught at the Odesa Conservatory. During the German-Soviet war in 1941-1944, he was in the Urals, working with various musical groups. In 1944 he returned to Mykolaiv and resumed the work of the orchestra. He died in Mykolaiv on May 29, 1954.
Creativity.
He is the author of a number of arrangements and instrumentation for the orchestra of folk instruments, pieces for brass band, and songs. His arrangement of the Ukrainian folk song "Oh, what a noise has happened" is included in the repertoire of the Moscow Orchestra.
Honoring him.
Since 2015, the Hryhorii Manilov Festival-Contest of Folk Instrument Players has been held every two years in Mykolaiv region, aimed at developing and promoting performance on folk musical instruments, and establishing a national school of folk instrumental art.
