Soviet and Ukrainian composer and violinist.
Biography.
Mykhailo Starytskyi, a composer and violinist, was born on October 5, 1957 in Luhansk (formerly Voroshylovhrad). His father, Starytskyi Fedir Tikhonovych (1914-1984), was a musician, conductor, and head of the folk instruments orchestra. At the time of his son's birth, he was the director of the Ostrovsky Regional Music and Drama Theater in Voroshylovhrad. His mother, Starytska (née Budiukova) Valentyna Oleksandrivna (1928-1992), was a civil engineer. He was a member of the National Union of Composers of Ukraine, the Moscow Union of Composers, and the German Union of Composers.
He was engaged in music since the age of 6. In 1976, he graduated from the Luhansk Music College with a degree in violin. He worked in the symphony orchestra of the Luhansk Regional Philharmonic as a violinist in the first violin group. After serving in the army (1976-1978), he was admitted to the Tchaikovsky Kyiv State Conservatory (now the National Music Academy of Ukraine), where he graduated with a degree in composition in 1984. From 1984 to 1991, he worked as an editor at the Musical Ukraine publishing house. Since 1988, he has held the position of deputy editor-in-chief of the publishing house and a leading specialist. In 1991, he began working as a music editor at the Dovzhenko Kyiv Feature Film Studio.
He was engaged in music theory, in particular the music of numbers (unpublished research), philosophy, and wrote prose and poetry. His short story "Petnikov's Odalisque" was published in the Khreshchatyk magazine, issue 1, in 1998.
He participated in the Festival "Musical Premieres of the Season" (Kyiv) in 1990, 1996.
In 1998, he moved to Moscow, where he worked as a chief librarian in the department of music books and sound recordings at the Russian State Library (RDB).
In 2005, he left the country with his second family and moved to Germany. He died suddenly on April 9, 2014. He was buried at the Central Cemetery in Frankfurt am Main.
Film music.
He wrote music for the following films:
"The Syroman" (1989)
"Niagara (1991)
"Taras Shevchenko. Testament" (1992-1997, 9 episodes).
"Well, you are a witch!" (1992)
"Hostages of Fear" (1993)
"Double" (1995)
"The Poet and the Princess (1999).
The film Niagara (1991) won the Audience Award at the Kyiv International Film Festival "Molodist" in 1991.
Compositions
For symphony orchestra:
"Dedication to Joseph Haydn" (Symphony)
"Symphonic Etude"
For chamber orchestra:
Chamber Symphony for string orchestra
"Summa Elegie" for string orchestra
"Little Suite No. 1" for string orchestra
"Little Suite No. 2" for string orchestra
"Afterword": a piece for three flutes, oboe, piano and low strings
Two pieces for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, piano and strings:
"As if you were looking through old glass"
"Flight of a White Bird from a Dream"
"Hic et nunc": a piece for 4 trombones, piano and string orchestra
Capriccio:
Capriccio No. 1 for oboe, strings and bells
Capriccio No. 2 for baritone, flute, violin, cello, piano and bells (based on the poem by Alexander Pushkin)
Capriccio No. 3 for flute and strings
Capriccio No. 4 for tenor, two violins, viola, cello and double bass (based on a text by J. Derrida)
Capriccio No. 5 for wind instruments
For chamber ensemble:
Septet for clarinet, bassoon, French horn, violin, viola, cello and double bass
String Quartets Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 ("Three Graphemes")
Trio for violin, cello and piano
"Landscape" for 11 instruments
"Night Piece" for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn and harp
"Ekloge" for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn
"Prelude, Fugue and the Forgotten Hunter's Hat" for flute, oboe, bassoon and celeste
"Premonition" for two violins, viola, cello and double bass
"Quo Vadis?" for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello
"Litanei" for flute, clarinet, bassoon and double bass
Prelude and three postludes for flute, clarinet and cello
Sonata for violin and piano
"Ligeia" for violin and piano
Three preludes for violin and piano
Two songs for viola and piano
"Psalmus sine verbi" for five cellos
Sonata for cello and piano
"Dedication to Jakob Lenz" for cello and piano
Three sketches for oboe and piano
Works for choir
"Diptych for the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud"
"Triptych for the poetry of Lesya Ukrainka"
"Vivre encore" (for the poetry of Jules Supervielle)
"Garden" (for the poetry of Volodymyr Svidzinsky)
Works for voice and piano
"Five Poems by Anna Akhmatova" for mezzo-soprano and piano
"Five Poems by Yevhen Baratynsky" for baritone and piano
"White Christmas" (based on a poem by Vasyl Holoborodko) for baritone and piano
Works for piano:
Sonatas No. 1, 2, 3
Sonatina
Piece for piano
"Dedication to Pataphysicians" (for two pianos)
