Alchevsky, Ivan

Alchevsky, Ivan [Алчевсъкий, Іван; Alčevs’kyj], b 27 December 1876 in Kharkiv, d 10 May 1917 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Distinguished opera singer, son of Oleksii Alchevsky and Khrystyna Alchevska. Alchevsky was soloist with the Mariinsky Opera Theater in Saint Petersburg (1901–5), the Paris Opera (1908–10), and the Bolshoi Opera Theater in Moscow (1910–14). He performed in Odesa, Katerynoslav, Kharkiv, Baku, and in West European and American cities. Together with Mykhailo Donets, he organized, in 1909, and directed, until 1914, the musical and dramatic ensemble Kobzar in Moscow. When the Ukrainian opera theater performed in Moscow, Alchevsky sang the role of Petro in the production of Mykola Lysenko's Natalka Poltavka. In 1915 he succeeded in staging Petro Hulak-Artemovsky's Zaporozhets’ za Dunaiem (Zaporozhian Cossack beyond the Danube) at the Bolshoi Opera Theater. In 1916 he staged the same opera at the Odesa Opera (see Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater), both times performing the role of Andrii. Alchevsky's European and American concerts, in which he promoted Ukrainian composers, especially Mykola Lysenko and Yakiv Stepovy, were a great success. Reminiscences about Alchevsky, his correspondence, and other materials were published in a book edited by I. Lysenko and K. Myloslavsky (Kyiv 1980). A vocalist competition in his name was established in Kharkiv in 1999.

[This article was updated in 2012.]