Roman Fedorovych Nykyforiv (born June 16, 1946, Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region) is a Ukrainian composer, conductor, teacher, and singer. Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine (1986). Member of the National Union of Composers of Ukraine (2016). Since 1970, he has been directing the Smerichka Folk Song and Dance Ensemble, which has won many festivals.
Roman Nykyforiv was born on June 16, 1946, in Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region. In 1964 he graduated from a boarding school and a music school where he learned to play the violin. He studied at the Lviv and Kolomyia music schools (1965-1967), and in 1967-1972 at the conducting faculty of the Mykola Lysenko Lviv State Conservatory. He studied with prominent musicians and composers Yevhen Kozak, Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky, Stanislav Liudkevych, Volodymyr Flys, and conductors Mykola Kolessa, Yevhen Vakhniak, and Serhiy Hambartsumyan.
In 1970, when Roman was in his 4th year of studying at the Conservatory, he was offered to lead the Smerichka folk song and dance ensemble at the Palace of Culture in Morshyn. Becoming the artistic director and conductor of Smerichka, Roman spread the folklore of Hutsul, Boikivshchyna, Bukovyna, and Zakarpattia and performed Moldovan, Polish, Hungarian, and Belarusian songs with the group.
In 1972-1980, he worked as the director of the Morshyn School of Arts. In July 1986, Roman Nykyforiv was awarded the title of "Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine" for his significant artistic achievements. Since 1992, he has been teaching and heading the folk and orchestra department of the Stryi Children's Art School. From 2000 to 2010, he was the regent of the choir of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Morshyn.
In addition to his musical work, Nykyforiv writes memoir literature and has published memoirs about his teacher, conductor and composer Yevhen Vakhnyanyn and composer Roman Savytskyi. In 2008, after the release of his song collection "Trinity of Music", Roman Nykyforiv won the literary and artistic award of the Vitaliy Romanyuk Charitable Foundation for his great contribution to the development of Ukrainian pop song, choral and chamber instrumental music.
Roman ran for the Morshyn City Council from the People's Movement of Ukraine party in the 2015 local elections. On September 13, 2016, he was awarded the President of Ukraine's award - the jubilee medal "25 Years of Independence of Ukraine". Since 2016, he has been a member of the National Union of Composers of Ukraine.
Management of "Smerichka"
Led by Roman Nikiforov, Smerichka recorded programs on regional (1978, 1988) and republican television (1972, 1978) and received positive jury reviews for performances at the Sunny Clarinets TV competitions and festivals of political and patriotic songs. The ensemble became a laureate of the All-Union Festival (III degree diploma, 1970), a laureate of the festival dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the USSR (I degree diploma, 1972), a laureate of the All-Union Festival of Amateur Workers' Creativity (I degree diploma, 1975-1977) and a laureate of the All-Union Review Competition among the ensembles of health centers of trade unions of the Ukrainian SSR (1978).
Under Roman's direction, the ensemble recorded a number of folk songs: "Oh, whose horse is standing", "I was walking in the garden", "There is a mountain on the other side", "Oh, I will sit at the edge of the window", "From that corner to that corner", "Oh, my mother wanted me", "Don't go early girls to marry", "Oh, there is a dry oak on the mountain," "Oh, there are poplars in the field," "Ivan, Ivan," "My mother sent me," "Galician women are sad," "Oh, there is a red viburnum in the meadow," "Hey, you Sich riflemen." In 1988, against the backdrop of democratic changes in Ukraine, the group was one of the first in the Lviv region to stage a Christmas program.
Together with the Smerichka Ensemble, the conductor performed in Ukrainian cities such as Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dolyna, Kyiv, as well as in Balti (Moldova), Minsk (Belarus), Krakow, Rzeszow, Przemyśl, Melec, Jarosław (Poland), Moscow, and St. Petersburg (Russia).
Creative work
Roman Nikiforiv's composing, vocal and pop activities began in 1992. He has written more than 100 works, including vocal and choral compositions based on his own poems and on the poems of Ukrainian poets Vitaliy Romaniuk, Dmytro Lutsenko, Yaroslav Kaminetskyi, V. Hnedenko, A. Shovkoshytnyi, and V. Plakhotniuk. In collaboration with the poet Vitaliy Romaniuk, the composer released three albums of music: "Strings of Love" (2003), "Carpathian Land" (2006), "Trinity of Music" (2008).
An important part of the composer's work is sacred music. Thus, the author composed music for certain parts of the Divine Liturgy - "Open the Royal Gates," "Only Begotten Son," "Worthy is Our Father," "Blessed is He Who Comes," "We Have Seen the True Light," - arrangements of church songs - "To the Holy Temple," "Have You Been to Calvary," "The Resurrection Bell. "Oh, Who, Who Loves St. Nicholas" - carols "God is Eternal", "New Joy", "There is News in Bethlehem Today", "Oh, Wonderful Birth", "Holy Night", as well as a vocal piece based on the words of Vitaliy Romanyuk "A Carol Came to the House" and "Prayer for the Motherland" in the author's literary edition.
Nikiforiv's chamber instrumental music includes works for violin duo "Dolche Vio..." and trumpet trio "Romance Reflection". In addition, the artist composed piano music for carols "God is Eternal", "God is Born", "All Over the World", which he published in his author's collection "Strings of Love".
In 2014, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Legion, under the direction of Roman Nykyforiv, the world's only cantata about the Sich Riflemen "Sich is coming" (5 premieres) based on the poems of Vitaliy Romanyuk was performed in Lviv.
As a solo singer, he performed in Kiskungalas, Nyiregyhaza (Hungary), Prague (Czech Republic), Munich, Hanover, Duren, Hamelin (Germany), Paris, and Rose (France).
Awards.
Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine (1986)
Literary and Art Prize of the Vitalii Romaniuk Charitable Foundation (2008)
Award of the President of Ukraine - Jubilee Medal "25 Years of Independence of Ukraine" (2016)
