Mikhail Mikhailovich Sikard (b. 7 December 1867, Odesa - † June 1937, Brussels) was a Ukrainian and Russian violinist, composer and teacher of French origin. He wrote several orchestral and chamber works.
Biography.
He studied violin since childhood. At an early age, he moved to Kyiv with his family.
He graduated from the Kyiv Music College (1882-1884, violin class of O. Shevchyk) and the Paris Conservatory (1884-1886, class of J. Massard). He studied in Berlin with J. Joachim (violin) and W. Bargiel (composition).
Laureate of the Paris Conservatory Violin Competition (1886, 1st prize).
He began his performing career in Kyiv at the age of nine. After graduating from the studios, he worked as a soloist at the Konzert Haus in Berlin, and gave concerts in many European cities.
In 1888, he returned to Kyiv, where he began to give concerts and formed his own successful quartet, where he played the first violin. The second violin was later played by the famous European violinist Mykhailo Serbulov. In 1893, he became close to Mykola Lysenko's circle and formed a new quartet, with which he often performed in Kyiv, Berlin, Prague, and other cities.
He performed in cities of the Russian Empire and European capitals. From 1892 he taught at the Kyiv Music College of the Russian Music Theatre, private schools of Stanislav Blumenfeld and Mykola Tutkovsky.
1894-1895 - soloist of the Orchestre des Colonnades in Paris.
Since 1913 - Professor at the Conservatory in Amsterdam.
Public activity
He was a member of the Music Commission at the Literary and Artistic Society headed by Mykola Lysenko. The commission also included Yelyzaveta Musatova-Kulzhenko, Kazymyr Pyatyhorovych, Karl Shadek, Mykola Tutkovskyi and his future wife L. Parashchenko. However, in 1905 the society was closed by the tsarist police.
Compositions.
Concerto for violin, violin pieces, arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs and dances.
An arrangement for violin of the Second Rhapsody by Mykola Lysenko, who dedicated his Elegiac Capriccio for violin and piano to it
