Mykola Shpak (1942, Kherson - 2003, Kherson) was a Ukrainian conductor, Honoured Artist of Ukraine.
Mykola Shpak was born in 1942, in Kherson, on St. Nicholas Day. In 1958, he entered the Kherson Music School, studying the accordion. It was there that his interest in leading such a complex instrument as an orchestra became apparent. Since 1962, he has been a student of the Kharkiv State Conservatory, majoring in accordion, conductor of the folk instruments orchestra, and concert performer. During his studies, he gave private lessons, worked in a choir, and earned a part-time job as an accordionist. After the conservatory, he worked as a teacher at the Sumy Music College for a year. From the very first days of his work, he began to lead the student symphony orchestra. Six months after the rehearsals began in February 1968, the orchestra performed at the Kyiv Conservatory, and even experts were delighted to hear the second movement of Shostakovich's symphony, Rachmaninoff's piano concerto and the overture to Beethoven's ballet The Creation of Prometheus under the baton of a twenty-six-year-old conductor. To deepen his education, Mykola entered the Kharkiv State Institute of Arts named after I. P. Kotlyarevsky, the Faculty of Opera and Symphony Conducting, class of Professor E. Dushchenko. From 1968 to 1974, he worked as an orchestra artist, assistant conductor of the opera studio, and conductor of the Kharkiv Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. Initially, he conducted operas, but he had a desire to rise to a new level - to learn to conduct ballet. I conducted the opera-ballet "Little Red Riding Hood", ballets "Giselle", "The Nutcracker", etc. After a small incident related to the emotionality of a creative person, Mykola Oleksiyovych had to leave the Kharkiv Opera House, where he was able to master the concert symphony repertoire. At that time, Mykola Shpak was a professional player not only of the accordion, but also of the piano, guitar and percussion instruments, so he was often removed from conducting and handed the instrument of the absent musician. In 1978, the Regional Department of Culture in Dnipro invited him to the position of conductor of the symphony orchestra at the newly opened Dnipro Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 1982, Mykola Shpak was sent for an internship to the Bolshoi Theatre of the USSR under the direction of Yuri Simonov. By the end of his internship, he conducted the operas Eugene Onegin and Iolanta and the ballet Swan Lake. Upon his return from Moscow, he was appointed acting chief conductor of the Dnipro Opera House.
The invaluable ability to perform as an opera and ballet conductor gave Mykola Shpak the opportunity to participate as a conductor-director in more than 30 performances: operas Raymonda, Cossack Beyond the Danube, Madame Butterfly, The Queen of Spades, ballets Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, etc. He formed a wonderful creative tandem with choreographer Zoya Kavats. Being a great dancer, he brought his own ideas to the performances, which were gladly accepted by the choreographers. Thus, the ballet to the music of Johann Strauss, The Grand Waltz, was the only production in Ukraine at the time and was a huge success with the audience.
Immediately after the declaration of Ukraine's independence, in November 1991. Mykola Shpak took part in the creation of the Slavutychi Ukrainian Folklore Ensemble. Mykola was the artistic director and leading accordionist of the ensemble. Stars of the Dnipro stage - People's Artists of Ukraine Nonna Surzhyna and Valentyna Kovalenko, Honoured Artist of Ukraine Viktor Parubets and others - collaborated with the ensemble. The ensemble toured Poland, Slovakia, and Israel. At one of the artistic councils, Mykola Oleksiyovych openly stated that there was "not enough Ukraine" in the theatre. Then he recited a quatrain by Taras Shevchenko that was appropriate for the situation and left the meeting, slamming the door. In 1992, Mykola Shpak was appointed director of the Glinka Music School in Dnipro. Immediately, a folk song ensemble was created with N. Shpak (accordion, accordion) and soloists N. Bilyi, A. Manzhos, H. Kuzyayeva.
The apotheosis of M. Shpak's work was a large-scale arrangement for choir, soloists and symphony orchestra of the folk song "The Dnipro roars and groans". The audience, who attended the reporting concert of folk art groups of the Dnipro region in Kyiv in April 2001, were fascinated by the power and majestic sound of the performance of a seemingly familiar folk song. In 2002, Mykola Shpak created and performed the project "Masterpieces of World and Ukrainian Symphonic Dance and Vocal Music". The project included three concerts of French, Italian and Ukrainian classical music. He died on 23 February 2003 after an unequal struggle with a serious incurable illness. A few days before his death, he conducted the ballet Don Quixote, which he considered a symbolic end to his struggle.
