Petro Starushyk (born on 5 January 1944 in Zamshany, Ratnivshchyna) is a composer, conductor, and teacher. During his more than forty years of creative activity, Petro Starushyk has trained a hundred professional musicians and composed many works. Petro Starushyk's treasury includes songs based on the words of Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Olena Kryshtalska, and vocal works about the Horokhiv district. There are also many translations of folk songs for choir, arrangements of folk music for various instruments. Even today, the muse does not leave the maestro. His flight of imagination helps him to form the repertoire for the chamber and church choirs he has created and directed for the past 20 years.
Petro Starushyk was born for the first time on 5 January, before Christmas, in 1944 in the village of Zamshany, Ratniv district. And the second time - a few months later, on the banks of an unknown river. The war was going on. Towards the summer, in the face of mortal danger, they had to flee the village, so the parents loaded their children and simple household utensils onto a cart and headed for the forest.
- "On the way, they came across a deep river, and had to wade through it on their shoulders," Petro says. "They put me on the bank, and when they carried everything and started looking for me, they couldn't find me. I was as small as a bird, and I must have been sleeping soundly, but here was tall grass, snares, and mortal danger was on my heels... They had to escape without me.
But every cloud has a silver lining. On the same day, another family was fleeing the war through the same ford and heard a baby's cry.
The Starushyks had a large family. Their mother Uliana Akatiiivna and father Pylyp Omelianovych had nine sons and daughters. Petro doesn't remember any of his grandfathers, because one of his maternal grandfathers died in the First World War in 1914 (the only thing he passed on to his family was his grandfather's soldier's spoon), and the other paternal grandfather died in 1937, when his son was only fourteen years old. The future composer was raised by his mother's grandmother Prozina (Zina) and his father's grandmother Yavdoshka. To this day, Petro Pylypovych recalls how they used to do the housework, weed, reap with sickles, soak flax in Lake Liuban and beat it with washing machines, and on Sundays, taking the children, they would go to the ancient Zamshany village church named after the Archangel Michael.
Education.
The first person who got Petro Pylypovych interested in music was his uncle Adam, a village violinist and a nugget of talent. Not a single wedding in the area was complete without his participation. As a boy, Petro Starushyk used to go to weddings to hear him play. "Later, I started playing with him myself," the maestro recalls, "My brothers Andrii and Vasyl played the accordion, and I also learned to play the harmonica and violin.
Petro Pylypovych became a professional musician. After completing seven years of school, he got a job and soon entered the music department of the Lutsk Pedagogical College. As he says, he fell into good hands - to the famous teachers Mariia Tesunova, Mykola Samokhvalenko and Heorhii Miretskyi, who inspired him with a love for composing. However, this talent was put to sleep by the whirlpool of life. He continued his studies at the Faculty of Music and Pedagogy of the Rivne Pedagogical Institute.
Creativity
Work
In 1965, the young educator was sent to the Ivan Franko Gorokhiv Secondary School. Soon, the capable teacher was invited to the Horokhiv Children's Music School, where Petro Pylypovych worked at the Horokhiv Music School for thirty years, 25 of them as a director. It was the most fruitful creative period in the composer's career. At this time, he wrote his songs: "Oh, Why Are You Blackened" based on the words of Taras Shevchenko, "Evening Time" based on the words of Lesia Ukrainka, a number of works based on the words of local poets; "My Native City", "Thinking about Fate", "Glorious Ukraine", "Thinking about Berestechko" based on the words of Diana Radchuk, "Song about Svityaz" based on the words of Olena Kryshtalska, "Dyka Rozha", "Pechikhvostiv Lights" based on the words of Yevhen Rekrut, and others. The works of Petro Starushyk are still performed in the repertoire of folk amateur and choral groups of the district. He has made many arrangements, arrangements, translations of folk songs for choir, and instrumentation of folk music for various ensembles. In 2003, the collective's creative work was highly appreciated and it was awarded the title of "folk amateur". Petro Starushyk created another wonderful group with a diverse and colourful repertoire - a male quartet, which still enjoys great success and sympathy among listeners. Petro has good vocal skills and has been singing in the vocal men's quartet of the Prosvita Research and Development Centre, for over 40 years in the folk amateur men's chapel of the Prosvita Research and Development Centre, and for 30 years in the folk amateur chapel of cultural workers of the district.
Books
In 2003, he published the collection "I thank God for everything";
2008 - "To You, Ukraine, the Prayer of the Soul"; 2013 - "Embrace, Ukraine!"; 2019 - "Three Wide Paths"; a CD of his works was released.
Awards.
He was repeatedly awarded with the Diplomas of Horokhiv District State Administration, District Council, Department of Culture of Volyn Regional State Administration, Regional State Administration, Regional Council.
In 2015, he was awarded the honorary title of Honoured Worker of Culture of Ukraine.
In 2021, he was awarded the Certificate of Honour of the Horokhiv City Council on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's Independence.
