Vyrsta, Arystyd

Vyrsta, Arystyd [Вирста, Аристид; Wirsta, Aristide], b 22 March 1922 in Barbivtsi, Bukovyna, d 18 May 2000 in Bourg-la-Reine near Paris, France. Musicologist, teacher, and violinist; member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society (since 1977); brother of Temistokl Vyrsta. He received his PH D degree in musicology from the Sorbonne (1974). In 1950 he was engaged as concertmaster by the Belo Horizonte Symphony Orchestra in Brazil. He was subsequently soloist of chamber orchestras in Vienna, Rome, and Paris. He was on the music faculty of the Sorbonne (1975–87), where he lectured on musicology. From 1976 he has been a professor at the Ukrainian Free University (Munich). Vyrsta contributed articles on Ukrainian music and musicians to French, German, and English music encyclopedias.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]