Pavlo Ivanovych Muravsky (Moravsky) (*30 July 1914, Dmytrashkivka village, Olhopol district, Kamianets-Podilskyi province (now Pishchanskyi district, Vinnytsia region) - 6 October 2014, Kyiv, Ukraine) - prominent Ukrainian choral conductor and teacher, People's Artist of Ukraine (1960), Shevchenko Prize winner (1979), Professor of the Petro Tchaikovsky National Music Academy, Honorary Academician of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Holder of the Order of Merit I, II degree, Hero of Ukraine (2009).
Early years
Until the age of sixteen, Pavlo Muravskyi lived in his native Dmytrashkivka with his mother Dariia Yukhymivna and his older brother Dmytro (his father Ivan Pavlovych died in 1915 during the First World War, when Pavlo was nine months old). Pavlo learnt his first singing lessons from folk songs. His first teachers and mentors in music were his maternal uncle Serhii Mohylevskyi and his cousin Stepan Bilyanskyi, who graduated from Tulchyn Pedagogical College, where he sang in the choir under the direction of Mykola Leontovych. Pavlo, along with his uncle Serhii, sang in the village academic choir directed by his cousin Stepan Bilyanskyi. Stepan also taught Pavlo to play the violin, which Uncle Serhii had bought him. They also guided Pavlo on his artistic path and helped him to go to Kyiv to study music. For the rest of his life, Pavlo remembered the entrance exam to the Kyiv Music School (soon reorganised into the Kyiv Music College), because the admission committee included such prominent artists as Levko Revutskyi, Borys Liatoshynskyi, Hryhorii Veriovka, and Hlib Taranov. After graduating from the college in 1934, P. Muravskyi worked as a music teacher at a secondary school in Chornobyl and directed children's choirs.
In 1936, at the insistence of his uncle Serhii Yukhymovych, he entered the conducting and choral faculty of the Tchaikovsky Kyiv State Conservatory, graduating in June 1941. He combined his studies with performing and teaching activities: he conducted the amateur choir of the Arsenal plant (1938-40) and the vocal ensemble of the Ukrainian Radio (1940-41).
1940s and 1950s
During the German-Soviet war, he studied at the Naval Air Defence School in Leningrad (the day before the blockade, the school was evacuated to Engels - now Elista) and led the school's choir (1941-1942). In 1942-1943, Lieutenant Muravsky commanded an anti-aircraft platoon of the North Pacific Flotilla and directed the regimental choir of the flotilla. In 1943, Senior Lieutenant Muravsky organised the Red Fleet Song and Dance Ensemble of the Northern Pacific Flotilla and served as its artistic director and chief conductor until 1946. In 1946, due to illness, P. Murawsky was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet and soon demobilised. After demobilisation, on the recommendation of his teachers L. Revutskyi and H. Veriovka, Pavlo Muravskyi headed the Lviv Regional Trembita Choir, which five years later grew into the State Academic Choir. Under Pavlo Muravsky's direction, Trembita quickly became one of the best choirs in the Soviet Union. At the same time, in 1948-1955, he taught at the Lviv Conservatory.
Work in Kyiv
From 1964 to 1969, Pavlo Muravsky was the artistic director and chief conductor of the State Honoured Academic Choir "Dumka", during which period he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. During the same period, P. Muravsky worked with opera singer Borys Hmyria. Together, they gave a number of concerts of Ukrainian classical music, especially poems by Taras Shevchenko. They recorded Shevchenkiana in Moscow on discs that were presented at international exhibitions in Paris and Montreal. Borys Hmyrya wrote about his creative collaboration with P. Murawsky:
"We decided to answer the following question: if perfect performance is possible in religious music, why can't it be achieved in chanting folk songs and romances? As a result of long and hard work, our joint performances have reached a high level. This is a great merit of the enthusiast P. I. Muravsky. Working together with him, I saw how he, picking up a grain of sand, achieved timbre harmony of voices, clear sound of the choir in a chord, diction, correct phrasing and highlighting the "red line" of the whole work. Only such scrupulousness can lead to the heights of art (Our thought, our song // Moskovskaya Pravda of 25.05.1969)"
Since 1965, he has been working part-time as an artistic director of the student choir and a senior lecturer at the Department of Choral Conducting at the Kyiv Conservatory. Since 1969, he has been a full-time lecturer (since 1971 - professor) at the Tchaikovsky Kyiv State Conservatory (since 1995 - National Music Academy of Ukraine) and has held the position of artistic director and chief conductor of the student choir of the conducting and choral faculty. Under the direction of P. Muravsky, the student choir toured, made a number of recordings of choral literature, including 37 works by M. Leontovych in 1977. The student choir under Muravsky's direction won a great creative victory at the International Choral Festival in Canada in 1993, winning first place among 84 choirs from around the world. Among P. Muravsky's students are D. Bolharsky, I. Pavlenko, L. Bukhonska, S. Svarych, V. Stepurko, O. Bondarenko, N. Nehotiayeva, V. Petrychenko, M. Hobdych, L. Baida, V. and Y. Kurachi, T. Myroniuk, B. Plish, A. Popil, I. Rengach, P. Struts, R. Tolmachov, M. Yurchenko, Y. Medvedev, and others.
Maestro Pavlo Muravsky has performed and recorded on discs, cassettes and CDs more than 1000 choral works by various authors: D. Bortnyansky, M. Berezovsky, A. Vedel, G. Skovoroda, O. Kosyts, S. Liudkevych, P. Tchaikovsky, L. Beethoven, A. Mozart, G. Verdi, H. Mahler, A. Scriabin, I. Stravinsky, and many other Ukrainian and foreign composers. In 1972, on the recommendation of Petro Shelest, Maestro Muravsky recorded Masterpieces of Ukrainian Music (Church Music), as well as all of Mykola Leontovych's choral works to mark the composer's 100th birthday. In 1985-1986, while working part-time as the artistic director of the Ukrainian Radio Choir, he recorded dozens of choral works for the golden fund.
On 23 March 2009, by the Decree of the President of Ukraine (№ 178/2009), P. Muravsky was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine and the Order of the State.
On 21 November 2009, the Memorial Manor-Museum was opened in the village of Dmytrashkivka on the initiative of his countrymen.
He died at the age of 100 on 6 October 2014. He was buried at the Baikove cemetery (plot No. 33).
State awards
The title of Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the State (23 March 2009) - for outstanding personal merits in establishing high standards of Ukrainian choral singing, enriching the national cultural and artistic heritage and many years of fruitful creative activity
Order of Merit I class (30 July 2004) - for outstanding personal contribution to the development of Ukrainian musical art, many years of fruitful creative activity and in connection with the 90th anniversary of his birth
Order of Merit II class (22 December 1999) - for outstanding personal contribution to the development of Ukrainian musical art, creation of the national choral school, many years of fruitful pedagogical, creative and public activity
The Honorary Award of the President of Ukraine (20 September 1994) - for a significant personal contribution to the development of the musical culture of Ukraine, many years of fruitful pedagogical and performing activity
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1960)
Taras Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1979).
Pavlo Muravsky International Choral Competition
In June 2010, the annual Pavlo Muravsky International Choir Competition was launched in Muravsky's native village of Dmytrashkivka. The first competition was attended by choirs from Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Uman, Kirovohrad, as well as from Russia and Poland. The second competition took place on 24-26 June 2011. It was attended by choirs from Bohuslav, Ivano-Frankivsk, Donetsk and Poland. The third competition took place on 28-29 July 2012.
