Verykivsky, Mykhailo

Verykivsky, Mykhailo [Вериківський, Михайло; Verykivs’kyj, Myxajlo], b 20 November 1896 in Kremenets, Volhynia gubernia, d 14 June 1962 in Kyiv. Composer, conductor, and teacher. He graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory (1923) in the composition class of Boleslav Yavorsky and then conducted the orchestras of the Kyiv Opera (1926–8) (see Kyiv Theater of Opera and Ballet), the Kharkiv Opera (1928–35) (see Kharkiv Theater of Opera and Ballet), and symphony orchestras in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Moscow, and Ufa. He also taught at the Lysenko Music and Drama Institute and the Kyiv Conservatory. His works include the ballet Pan Kanovsky (1930, 2nd edn 1953); the Taras Shevchenko-based operas The Captain (1938) and The Servant Girl (1940; premiered 1943); operas to texts by Leonid Hlibov, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, and Ostap Vyshnia; an oratorio on Marusia Bohuslavka; five cantatas; a concerto for piano and orchestra (1950); a number of orchestral works; a large body of piano music; chamber and church music; original choral works and arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs for chorus; about 70 original solo art songs and settings of Ukrainian folk songs for voice and piano; children's songs; and music for radio and films. N. Shurova published a monograph about Verykivsky in 1972.

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