Pukhalsky, Volodymyr

Pukhalsky, Volodymyr [Пухальський, Володимир; Puxal’s’kyj], b 2 April 1848 in Minsk, d 23 February 1933 in Kyiv. Teacher, pianist, and composer. In 1874 he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and in 1876 he was appointed director of the Russian Music Society’s school in Kyiv. From 1913 he was a professor of piano at the Kyiv Conservatory (in 1913–14 its first director) and (from 1925) at the Lysenko Music and Drama Institute. He also performed as a pianist in Saint Petersburg, Kyiv, and Odesa. His students included Vladimir Horowitz, A. Brailowsky, and Kostiantyn Mykhailov. Among his main works are the opera Valeria (1923), the symphonic Little Russian Fantasy (1882), a piano concerto (1881; the first such work for modern piano in Ukrainian music), works for piano solo, and the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom for choir.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]