Mathersky Mykola Antonovych (3 September 1915, Novyi Kermenchyk village, now Novomlynivka, Rozivskyi district, Zaporizhzhia region - 30 March 2006) was a Ukrainian conductor and folklorist.
He was born on 3 September 1915 in the village of Novyi Kermenchyk, near Mariupol, where the Mathersky family was thrown by the First World War. Seven years later, the family returned to their native village of Dolobychiv, where in 1929 the boy finished seven years of school. In the same year, Mykola became a student at the Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kremenets.
In 1930, he led the seminary choir for the first time.
In 1932, the Motherskyi family moved from the Kholm region to Kremenets. His father worked as a deacon in the Tunitsa church. In 1936, Mykola entered the Faculty of Theology of Warsaw University, where he studied for three years, but the Second World War ruined all his plans.
In the autumn of 1939, M. Matherskyi became a school principal in the village of Velyki Filvarky (now the village of Ploske, Kremenets district). He taught Ukrainian language and literature. Since 1941, he worked at the Kremenets Secondary School No. 3. At the same time, he led the choir of the Tunytska church.
In 1958, M. Matherskyi graduated from Lviv University by correspondence and only then received the right to teach Ukrainian language and literature in secondary school.
In 1976-1989, Mykola Matherskyi worked as a director of amateur art in the village of Ploske. In 1990, he created the choir of the Ukrainian Orthodox Autocephalous Church, which in 1991 won first place at the UPAAC Choir Festival in Lviv. M. Mathersky devoted himself to the popularisation of Ukrainian song and church music. He worked selflessly and persistently for the spiritual revival of his native people.
Mykola Mathersky died on 30 March 2006.
