Kyreiko, Vitalii

Kyreiko, Vitalii [Кирейко Віталій; Kyrejko, Vitalij], b 23 December 1926 in Shyroke, Dnipropetrovsk oblast, d 19 October 2016 in Kyiv. Composer and pedagogue. Upon graduating in 1949 from the Kyiv Conservatory, where he studied with Lev Revutsky, he became a lecturer there. He has written the operas The Forest Song, an adaptation of the play by Lesia Ukrainka (1957), On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs, an adaptation of the novelette by Olha Kobylianska (1966), Marko in Hell (1966), and The Boyar Woman (2003), another adaptation of the play by Lesia Ukrainka; the ballets Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, an adaptation of the novella by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky (1960), The Witch (1967), and The Orgy (1977), based on the play by Lesia Ukrainka; a choral cantata for male voice in memory of Marko Kropyvnytsky (libretto by Maksym Rylsky, 1965); 10 symphonies; concertos for cello and orchestra (1961); for violin and orchestra (1967), and for cello, violin and orchestra (1971); and piano variations on the themes of Revutsky (1952). He has also written a number of symphonic poems and overtures, string quartets, and piano, choir, and solo voice compositions, including art songs to the words of Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, Lesia Ukrainka, and others, and several arrangements of folk songs and music.

[This article was updated in 2017.]