Kostiuk, Yurii

Kostiuk, Yurii [Костюк, Юрій; Kostjuk, Jurij], b 3 March 1912 in Drotyntsi, Transcarpathia, d 12 July 1998 in Prešov, Slovakia. Folklorist, conductor, music teacher. A graduate of the Prague Conservatory (1938) and Charles University (1947), in 1958 he was appointed docent in the Pedagogical Faculty of Šafařík University in Prešov. He organized and conducted over 30 amateur choirs, and served as artistic director of two professional ensembles that he helped to establish: the Ukrainian Song and Dance Ensemble in Medzilaborce and the Duklia Ukrainian Folk Ensemble in Prešov. Kostiuk compiled several folklore collections: Narodni pisni pidkarpats'kykh rusyniv (Folk Songs of Transcarpathian Ruthenians, coauthor, 1944), Pisni dlia dytiachoho-zhinochoho khoru (Songs for a Children’s and Women’s Choir, 1952), and Ukraïns'ki narodni pisni Priashivs'koho kraiu (Ukrainian Folk Songs of the Prešov Region, 1958). He wrote a textbook (Muzychne vykhovannia [Musical Education, 1959, 1966]), music-studies curricula, and dozens of articles. His compositions include several cantatas, instrumental music, arrangements of folk songs, and art songs based on published poetry. V. Liubymov’s monograph on Kostiuk was published in 1982.

Mykola Mushynka

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]