Mykola Opryshko (6 October 1898 - 21 September 1941) was a choirmaster conductor and bandura player.
Biography.
He was born on 6 October 1898 in Rohoziv, Boryspil district, in the family of a local priest, where folk traditions and customs were held in special esteem. His father played folk instruments and taught his son to play the flute and violin. Later, the family moved to Boryspil, where the song environment influenced the talented young man's future path. Boryspil boys and girls had long been famous for their beautiful voices, which were admired not only by ordinary peasants but also by the composer Mykola Lysenko.
Until 1915, he studied at the Poltava Seminary, which he left after his father's death. After returning from Poltava, he worked as a school teacher. He graduated from the Mykola Lysenko State Music and Drama Institute. There he taught bandura playing.
From 1928 he was a member of the bandura band, and from 1930 to 1933 he was the artistic director of the Kyiv Bandura Band after the death of Mykola Mykhailov. In 1933, he created and directed the bandura ensemble of the Kyiv Radio Centre. He was arrested in 1936. After his arrest, he moved to Donetsk, where in 1938 he organised a folk song ensemble. In 1941, he authored a textbook on bandura playing. The textbook "School of Bandura Playing" was published in 1967 under the editorship of A. Omelchenko.
In 1941, he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army in the 46th Infantry Division of the 289th Infantry Division. He died of a wound in the battle near Chornukhy, Poltava region.
