Myroslav Starytskyi (also known as Myroslav Hryhorovych Skala-Starytskyi; pseudonym Miro Skala; 13 June 1909, Skala, now Skala-Podilska - 17 February 1969, Epinay, a suburb of Paris) was a Ukrainian opera and chamber singer (tenor), teacher, and public figure. Son of Hryhorii Starytskyi, husband of Yevheniia Lasovska. Silver medal of Paris for special achievements in art (1950), Golden Key of Detroit (USA). Detroit (USA) for outstanding artistic achievements (1959).
Biography
He was born on 13 June 1909 in Skala (now Skala-Podilska village, Chortkiv district, Ternopil region, Ukraine).
He studied at gymnasiums in the cities of Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk) and Lviv. He graduated from the Mykola Lysenko Higher Music Institute (1939) and the Ukrainian State Conservatory (1941) in Lviv (now the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy) and the Music Academy in Vienna (1942).
He worked as a soloist in the Ivan Tobilevych Ukrainian Mobile Theatre, the Yosyp Stadnyk troupe, and the Dumka Choir (1928-1937); from 1939 to 1941 he was a soloist at Lviv Radio.
He performed his first roles at the Lviv Opera House. He sang in 7 languages: Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, German, English, Italian, French on the stages of the leading theatres of Europe and America, in particular in Lviv (1941-1942), Kaiserslautern (1943-1944, Germany), Vienna (Folksoper, 1945-1947, Madrid (1948), Barcelona (Gran Teatro del Liceo, 1948-1949, both in Spain), Paris (Opera Comique, 1949), Lille (1949), Bordeaux (1949, 1950, all in France), Zurich (1950, Switzerland), Brussels (Theatre Royal de La Monnaie, 1953-1963, now Belgium), San Francisco (1959, USA).
1940-1960 - gave recitals in Berlin, Munich (both Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck (Austria), Paris, New York, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago (all USA), Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto (all - Canada), Edinburgh, Leicester, London, Manchester, Nottingham (all - Great Britain) and others, on the stages in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia.
In 1963, he organised his own music and drama studio, where he taught singing to Ukrainians. He was active in the social and artistic life of the Ukrainian emigration, the author of scripts, a speaker at patriotic performances.
He performed Ukrainian folk songs and chamber music by Ukrainian and foreign composers.
He recorded 9 gramophone records in the USA and Canada.
He died in Paris.
Opera roles
Andriy (The Cossack Beyond the Danube by S. Hulak-Artemovsky),
Petro, Mykola (Natalka Poltavka by Mykola Lysenko),
Andriy (Catherine by M. Arkas),
Favst and Romeo (Favst and Romeo and Juliet by Charles Gounod),
Knights of Mantua and Alvaro (Rigoletto and La forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi),
Chenier (Andre Chenier by U. Giordano),
Rudolph, Cavaradossi, Pinkerton (La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini).
Awards.
Silver medal of Paris for special achievements in art (1950),
Golden Key of the city of Detroit (USA) for outstanding artistic achievements (1959).
Honouring
A street and a school in Skala-Podilska, where a memorial plaque is installed (1995), a street in Borshchiv, a street in Dubliany, Lviv region, are named after Skal-Starycky.
Skala-Staryckyi is mentioned in Bohdan Petrash's book Tenor by God's Grace (T., 1999).
