Outstanding Ukrainian composer and musicologist, Hero of Ukraine (2008), People's Artist of Ukraine (1988), Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1969), laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine and Mykola Ostrozky Republican Prize (1968), Candidate of Art History, co-chairman of the Union of Composers of Ukraine (2006—2010), artistic director of the Kyiv Opera (2011—2016), National Legend of Ukraine (2021, posthumously). Grandson of the late Solomiya Krushelnytska.
Biography
He was born on July 13, 1938 in a family of Ukrainian intellectuals in Lviv. Myroslav Mykhailovych's mother came from the Okhrimovych family. Skoryk's grandfather, Volodymyr Okhrimovych, was a famous Ukrainian folklorist, public and political figure. Maria-Solomiya Okhrimovych-Skoryk was educated in Vienna. Grandmother Olena Krushelnytska-Okhrymovych was the sister of Solomiya Krushelnytska. My father also studied at the University of Vienna (philosophical faculty). Myroslav got his first introduction to music in the family - his parents, although they were not professional musicians, played music in the family circle, his father played the violin, his mother played the piano.
The composer's father, Mykhailo Skoryk, historian, ethnographer, was an employee of the Lviv branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, knew how to play the violin, knew and performed various Carpathian melodies, songs and dances.
With the occupation of Western Ukraine in 1939 by the USSR, the Skoryky family, like many other Ukrainian intellectual families, suffered losses. During the war, Myroslav Skoryk's older brother participated in the Second World War in the ranks of the Waffen SS division "Galichyna", after the end of the war he managed to emigrate to Australia.
Solomiya Krushelnytska encouraged Miroslav to systematically study music. On her advice, he begins to study at the ten-year-old Lviv Music School (which was founded on the initiative of Vasyl Barvinsky at the Lviv Conservatory). Most of all, Myroslav Mykhailovych remembered the choir and solfeggio lessons in the class of Hryhoriy Terletskyi, who encouraged the boy to compose. Together with Skoryk, Tamara Nazarko-Konovart, Lida Krykh, Daria Kryvoruchko, the future famous choirmaster Borys Kokotailo, Oksana Panasyuk and others studied together with Skoryk.
In 1948, with the strengthening of repressions, the Skoriky family was repressed and sent to Siberia (to Anghero-Sudzhensk, Kemerovo region). Someone denounced them because they issued anti-Soviet leaflets. In exile, Myroslav continues his education. He learns to play the piano from Valentina Kantorova, a student of S. Rachmaninov, and even goes to various competitions. He is also learning to play the violin under the guidance of his classmate's father, Volodymyr Panasyuk.
Only after the death of Y. Stalin in 1953 did the repression ease. Myroslav was allowed to return to Lviv with a "clean passport" (which gave the right to reside in any city of the USSR). The composer's parents managed to obtain such a permit two years later, but without the right of residence in Lviv. After moving to Lviv, Myroslav settled in with his father's sister, Yaroslava Biganska, who helped him find tutors to prepare for admission to the Conservatory. In those days, I met Vsevolod Zaderatsky.
In 1955-1960, he studied at the Lviv State Conservatory named after M. V. Lysenko under the guidance of professors Stanislav Ludkevich (music theory), Roman Simovych and Adam Soltys (composition). During this period, Myroslav Skoryk showed creative activity. He was a regular participant in the meetings of the Student Scientific Society. He played in the student orchestra, in 1963 he organized the VIA "Veseli Skripky", for which he wrote pop songs. His graduation work was the cantata "Spring" to the words of Ivan Franko. After completing his studies at the conservatory, he interned at a postgraduate course at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Dmytro Kabalevsky, completing his studies in 1964 with a dissertation on the topic "Peculiarities of the music of S. Prokofiev" and receiving a scientific degree of Candidate of Art History.
In 1964, he created music for Serhiy Parajanov's film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors." The film became famous, and so did the author of the music.
in 1963-1966 he taught composition at the Lviv Conservatory, and from 1966 to the end of the 1980s he taught composition at the Kyiv Conservatory. One of its first graduates was Ye. For a long time he worked in the USA, since 1996 - in Australia. In the late 1990s, he returned to Ukraine. Since 1999, he has been the head of the Department of the History of Ukrainian Music at NAU. In parallel, he taught at the Lviv Conservatory. M. Shved is among the graduates of M. Skoryk.
In 1989, he was the chairman of the jury of the Chervona Ruta festival. Since 2002, he has been the artistic director of the Kyiv Music Fest festival. From 2006 to 2010, he was co-chairman of the National Union of Composers of Ukraine. In April 2011, he was appointed artistic director of the Kyiv Opera, and worked in this position until 2016.
He died on June 1, 2020 in Kyiv. On June 3, a farewell ceremony was held for the outstanding composer in the Metropolitan Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ UGCC. June 4, 2020 in the Archcathedral of SaintsOn the 1st of Yura, a farewell was also held in Lviv. He was buried on June 5, 2020 at the Lychakiv Cemetery (field No. 13) in Lviv.
Awards
The title of Hero of Ukraine with the awarding of the Order of the State (August 20, 2008) — for outstanding personal services to the Ukrainian state in the development of national musical art, many years of fruitful compositional, pedagogical and public activity
Order "For Merit" 1 st. (February 8, 2010) — for a significant personal contribution to the socio-economic and cultural development of Ukraine, high professionalism and many years of conscientious work
Order "For Merit" II century. (August 27, 2006) — for a significant personal contribution to perpetuating the memory of Ivan Franko
Order "For Merit" of the III century. (October 5, 1998) — for a significant personal contribution to the development of Ukrainian musical art, many years of creative and pedagogical activity
The award of the President of Ukraine — the jubilee medal "20 years of Ukraine's independence" (August 19, 2011) — for a significant personal contribution to the socio-economic, scientific, technical, cultural and educational development of the Ukrainian state, significant labor achievements and many years of conscientious work
Award of the President of Ukraine "National Legend of Ukraine" (August 20, 2021, posthumously) - for outstanding personal merits in the formation of independent Ukraine and strengthening of its statehood, a significant contribution to the development of national art, sports, and many years of fruitful professional activity
Order "Badge of Honor" (USSR, 1971)
Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1969).
People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1988).
State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR named after Taras Shevchenko (1987)
Laureate of the Republican Prize of the LKSMU named after M. Ostrovsky (1968).
Art
Myroslav Skoryk's works are regularly performed in Ukraine, other post-Soviet countries, as well as in Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Great Britain, the USA, Canada, and Australia. The composer often appeared as a conductor and pianist with the performance of his own works.
In stylistics, he continued the traditions of the Lviv school of composers, organically connected with various primary genres; gave a modern author's vision of Ukrainian, in particular Carpathian, folklore and Lviv city and salon music-making, as well as modern popular music, primarily jazz. Several periods can be distinguished in the composer's work: early (1955-1964); neo-folkloric (1965-1972); neoclassical (1973-1978); neo-romantic (1983-1983); polystylistic (1986—1998); postmodern For many years, Myroslav Skoryk cooperated with the Symphony Orchestra of the State Television and Radio of Ukraine under the direction of Vadym Hnyedash and Volodymyr Sirenko.
Musical works
Musical theater works
"The Stonemasons" (ballet, after I. Frank, 1967)
"0:0 in our favor" (musical comedy, libr. Vickers and O. Kanevsky, 1969)
"Moses" (opera, libretto by B. Stelmakh after I. Frank, 2001)
"The Return of the Butterfly" (ballet, Skoryk-Puccini, 2006)
Vocal and symphonic works
cantatas for choir and symphony orchestra:
"Spring" is a cantata for soloists, choir and symphony orchestra based on a poem by I. Franko (1960),
"Lyudyna" is a cantata for soloists, choir and symphony orchestra based on poems by E. Mezhelaitis (1964),
poem-cantata "Gamaliya" (by T. Shevchenko, 2003)
"Three Ukrainian wedding songs" for voice and symphony orchestra (words, 1974)
Symphonic works
symphonic poems — ** "Waltz" (1960),
"Stronger than death" (symphonic poem, 1963),
"1933" (1993),
"Memory of the Motherland" (1994)
"Hutsul triptych" (suite for symphony orchestra, 1965)
concert for the large symphony orchestra "Carpathian" (1972)
"Partita No. 4" for symphony orchestra (1974)
"24 Caprices of Paganini"
Concertos for solo instruments with orchestra
3 for piano and orchestra — No. 1 (Yunatskyi, 1977), No. 2 (1982), No. 3 (1995)
9 for violin and orchestra — No. 1 (1969), No. 2 (1990), No. 3 (2001), No. 4 (2002), No. 5 (2004), No. 6 (2009), No. 7 (2011), No. 8 "Allusion to Chopin" (2011), No. 9 (2014)
"Melody" for violin and orchestra
Cello Concerto with Orchestra (1983)
For chamber orchestra
"Suite" (1961)
Partita No. 1 for String Orchestra (1966), No. 2 for Chamber Orchestra (1970), No. 3 for String Orchestra (1974)
"Three fantasies on February themes of the 16th century." from "Lviv tablature"
Diptych (1993)
Chamber instrumental works
"Partita No. 5" for piano (1975);
Partita No. 6 for string quartet
Partita No. 7 for brass quintet
"Recitative and Rondo" for violin, cello and piano (1969);
sonatas for violin and piano — No. 1 (1963), No. 2 (1993)
sonata for cello and piano "A-RI-A" (1994);
"Carpathian Rhapsody" for violin and piano (2004)
"Diptych" for string quartet
Piano works
Three Dances for 2 Pianos (1995)
The cycle of plays "In the Carpathians" (1959) — ** "Rondo" (1962):
"Variations" (1962)
"Burlesque" (1964)
"Kolomyka" (1962)
"The Blues" (1964)
"From the Children's Album" a series of plays ("A Simple Melody", "Folk Dance", "Various Play", "Lyrnik", "Humorous Play" (1965)
Toccata (1979)
6 preludes and fugues (1987—1988)
Vocal works
Romances in sl. Shevchenko (1962):
"If I had shoes"
"Bloomed in the Valley"
"A little cloud floats behind the sun"
"OhI will sit under the house"
Spiritual concert "Requiem" (in the first edition of "Zaupokiyna", canonical texts, 1999)
3 Psalms (2003)
Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom (2005)
Other
solos to the words of T. Shevchenko
numerous pop songs
Music for movies
Music for dramatic performances and more than 40 films, including:
1964 — Shadows of forgotten ancestors
1967 - How the Cossacks cooked kulish
1971 - Living water
1972 - For your destiny
1974 - Geese-swans fly
1974 — Personal life
1979 — Grishkovi books (animated film)
1981 — High pass (A minor melody)
1991 — The bells didn't ring for us when we were dying (dir. M. Fedyuk)
1994 — Tsarevna (series)
2007 — Lys Nikita
2019 — Taras. Return
Theoretical works of Myroslav Skoryk
Prokofiev and Schoenberg // Soviet music, 1962, No. 1.
Scale system of S. Prokofiev. — K.: Musical Ukraine, 1969.-99 p.
The future of our music. From the report of the deputy chairman of the board of the Union of Composers of Ukraine at the plenum of the board of the Union. — Music. 1971, No. 1.-S. 8-9.
Musical creativity and criticism (Speech at the 5th plenary session of the Union of Composers of the USSR) // For effective musical criticism. Sat. of articles and speeches / Comp. G. Drubachevskaya. - M.: Sov. comp., 1974.-S. 77-78.
About progressive and dogmatic innovation. — Soviet music, 1971, No. 8. -S. 17-23. Peculiarities of the musical scale of S. Prokofiev// Problems of the scale. Sat. of articles / Composition K. Yuzhak. - M.: Music, 1972.-S. 226—238.
About the nature and direction of the innovative search in modern music // Modern music. Issue 1. — K.: Musical Ukraine, 1973.-S. 3-24. (Co-author - V. Zaderatskyi).
A word about the composer [I.Sonevytskyi] // Sonevytskyi i. Solos: For voice and fp. -K.: Musical Ukraine, 1993. — P. 5 — 6.
The structure and expressive nature of chords in the music of the 20th century. — K.: Musical Ukraine, 1983. -160 p.
Family
Wife - Adriana.
Delight
Myroslav Skoryk was fond of sports. During his studies at the conservatory, he won sports titles in athletics, table tennis, badminton, and chess. He was interested in tourism on kayaks, cars.
Commemoration
Immediately after the death of Myroslav Skoryk, in Ukraine, at the regional and national levels, the memory of the composer began to be honored. On September 29, 2020, the Lviv Regional Council voted to give the name of Myroslav Skoryk to the communal institution "Lviv National Philharmonic".
In June 2021, a memorial plaque in honor of the artist was opened at the Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music of Ukraine, near auditorium No. 42. At the same time, the solemn opening of the monument on the grave of Myroslav Skoryk took place at the Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv. The Lviv Regional State Administration acted as the customer for the works on the manufacture of the monument (cost 1.1 million hryvnias). Also in June 2021, the Myroslav Skoryk Lviv National Philharmonic launched the Myroslav Skoryk All-Ukrainian Composer Competition, which will be held every two years and is aimed at supporting and promoting the symphonic work of a new generation of young Ukrainian composers, preserving and developing the traditions of the national composer school ". There are three prizes for the winners — UAH 45, 35, and 20,000.
On August 20, 2021, Myroslav Skoryk was posthumously awarded the award of the President of Ukraine "National Legend of Ukraine" "for outstanding personal merits in the formation of independent Ukraine and strengthening of its statehood, a significant contribution to the development of national art, sports, and many years of fruitful professional activity."
On September 24, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada approved the introduction of the State Prize of Ukraine named after Myroslav Skoryk for a significant contribution to the development of the musical art of Ukraine and the introduction of the latest unique practices in composition, performance, and musicology.
In June 2021, the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council named the Kamian Professional Music College after Myroslav Skoryk. In November 2021, the naming ceremony of the college was held with the participation of the composer's wife Adriana Skoryk, and a memorial plaque to Myroslav Skoryk was unveiled on the facade of the institution. An appeal to the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council for the provision of a college named after M. Skoryk was signed by outstanding cultural figures of Ukraine — A. Rogovtseva, L. Khorolets, E. Nyshchuk, O. Kuzhelnyi, R. Balayan, L. Rusnak, Yu. Makarov, S. Trimbach, K. Stepankova, A. Seitablaev and others.
In April 2022, Yesenin Street in the city of Mukachevo was renamed in honor of Myroslav Skoryk.
By decision of the executive committee of the Lviv City Council dated September 29, 2022, a part of Chaikovsky Street in the city of Lviv from Shevchenko Avenue to St. Stefanyk was renamed in honor of Miroslav Skoryk.
