Taras Mykysha (*2 February 1913, Pryimivka village, Lubny district, Poltava region - †14 March 1958, Buenos Aires) was a virtuoso pianist, composer, and teacher. He was a winner of the Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest (Hungary; 1933, 2nd prize), the Vienna Academy of Music Singing and Piano Competition (1933, 2nd prize) and the Bezendorfer Competition in Vienna (awarded a prestigious grand piano).
Biography.
Taras Mykysha was born in 1913 into an artistic singing family, where the Lysenko tradition was nurtured. He showed early musical talent and began studying in Kyiv with composer Pylyp Kozytskyi and piano with Vira Simkhovychova. In 1923, Taras's father, an outstanding singer (heroic tenor) Mykhailo Mykysha, was invited to work at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Taras moved with his parents to Moscow and continued his studies at the First Moscow Music College with Boleslav Yavorsky. He completed his musical education in Vienna, studying piano with Paul Weingarten and composition with Josef Marx in 1927-1935.
Since the early 1930s, Taras Mykysha has been performing and participating in international music competitions. In 1933, the young, still unknown pianist's performance at the Liszt International Competition in Budapest gained a great deal of attention. Mykyta won the second prize, but the audience and the press considered him worthy of the highest award, and a heated debate erupted over this. "After the first bars, I felt that I was under the influence of something that I could not control with my intellect or my ears. Something as primordial as nature itself. I felt something special, which in art no longer speaks to specialists, but only addresses the general public above technique and professionalism," the Hungarian critic wrote. The same year, the pianist took part in the International Competition of the Vienna Academy of Music, where 250 participants competed. He shared the second prize with Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti. Mykysa's rivals at the competition were other pianists who later gained international fame, such as Boleslav Kohn, Gina Bachauer, and György Szandor. In 1935, Mykyta won first prize at the Bezendorfer International Piano Competition. The piano he received as a prize at this competition remained with him until his last days.
His successes at competitions opened the way for Nikita to perform in European countries. The pianist renounced his Soviet citizenship and stayed in Vienna. Here he married Ruzana Sysoeva. He toured with great success in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, and Yugoslavia. He spent the years of World War II with his wife in Austria. In 1946, he moved to Paris, and then to South America, where he settled in Buenos Aires and became an Argentine citizen. In Argentina, Mykyta performed less, focusing on composing and teaching. On 14 March 1958, he died suddenly of a stroke. He was buried in Buenos Aires.
Taras Mykysha's works were never published. His manuscript archive remained in Argentina and is still inaccessible to researchers. There are no sound recordings of his playing.
Compositions
Concerto for piano and orchestra. Concerto for two pianos. Poem "Incaica" for clarinet and piano. Quartet for saxophones. Quintet for clarinet and strings. Ukrainian piano trio. Sonata for violin and piano. Suite for cello and piano. Solos on the words of Taras Shevchenko. Compositions for mixed choir.
Works for solo piano: Six sonatas, Seven fugues, Nine dances, 27 preludes, Variations on the theme of the song "Gandzya", Variations on the theme of the Chumak song, Lirnytsia poem, Fantasy on Ukrainian folk motifs, Variations on the theme of the Hebrew song, Ukrainian rhapsody, Various pieces.
Performing art
Mykyta had an extensive concert repertoire, dominated by works of the romantic style. His favourite composer was Liszt, from whose legacy he played two concertos, both sonatas, Mephisto Waltz, the concert etude Mazepa and Hungarian Rhapsodies. Along with classical music, he was eager to perform works by his contemporaries - Austrian, Russian and Ukrainian composers. He played pieces by V. Barvinsky, V. Kosenko, L. Revutsky, M. Kolessa and his own. All the reviewers agree that, despite his great virtuoso skills, what was most striking about Mykyta's performance was his original interpretation - a unique, exciting and fresh artistic reading of the works. "There was something demonic in his playing, it left no one calm," recalled pianist Daria Hordynska-Karanovych.
