Myroslav Skoryk

Myroslav Mykhailovych Skoryk (; 13 July 1938 – 1 June 2020) was a Ukrainian composer and teacher. His music is contemporary in style and contains stylistic traits from Ukrainian folk music traditions.

Skoryk was awarded the titles People's Artist of Ukraine and Hero of Ukraine.

Early life Myroslav Mykhailovych Skoryk was born in Lviv, on 13 July 1938. His parents were both educated at the University of Vienna, and subsequently became teachers. His father was a historian and an ethnographer, while his mother was a chemist. Although his parents did not have special musical training, his mother played piano and his father played the violin. Skoryk was exposed to music in the household from an early age, and his great aunt was the Ukrainian soprano Solomiya Krushelnytska. Skoryk's final exam piece was ('Spring'), a cantata for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra that was based on verses by the Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko. Other piano pieces written during Skoryk's student years include a piano sonata, and ('In the Carpathian Mountains'), also for solo piano. Skoryk was also a student of Mykola Kolessa.

In 1960, Skoryk enrolled in the postgraduate research program at the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with the composer Dmitry Kabalevsky. He remained there for four years. During his career, Skoryk was an active member of the union,

Music Skoryk was a composer, pianist and conductor. His works have been performed by ensembles and soloists that include the Leontovych Quartet, Oleh Krysa, Volodymyr Vynnytsky, Oleg Chmyr, Mykola Suk, Victor Markiw, and Alexander Slobodyanik. He was one of the recipients of the Ukraine's Shevchenko National Prize in 1987 for his Cello Concerto. In addition to the works listed below, he also wrote a number of smaller ensemble works, songs, and the score for more than 40 films, including Tini zabutykh predkiv (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors),

Skoryk moved towards composing religious music at the end of the 20th century, these compositions include his spiritual concerto Requiem (1999); Psalms for various types of choirs (1999–2005); and the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2005). According to the Ukrainian musicologist , who has written a biography of Skoryk, his spiritual compositions were "not a tribute to fashion", but "a quite natural consequence of long internal work" and the "resolution of the long process of the composer's creative evolution", and that the Liturgy is stylistically sensitive to the traditions of Ukrainian religious music.

Skoryk's religious opera Moses (2001) was the first Ukrainian opera on a biblical subject to be composed in nearly a century. The opera, which was premiered during the visit by Pope John Paul II to Ukraine in 2001, is based on a 1905 poem by Ivan Franko, which focuses upon Moses's struggles to lead his people into the Promised Land at the very end of his life; the text draws parallels between the sufferings of the Israelites and those of the people of Ukraine under the Soviets.

Works Data from Ukrainian Musicians, Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Musical Encyclopedia.

The following is a list of works by Skoryk:

Vocal 1959 – Requiem 1962 – Four Romances on verses by Taras Shevchenko for voice and piano 1964 – (The Person), cantata for soloists, chorus and symphony orchestra (in Russian) 1969 – (0:0 to Our Win), musical comedy 1974 – (Three Ukrainian Wedding Songs) for voice and symphony orchestra 1977 – (At the Rusalkas Easter), one-act opera 1978 – (Harlequin's Songs), children's musical 1994 – Miniatures Times of the Year for mixed choir 1998 – , a spiritual work for unaccompanied choir 1999 – Mass for chamber choir 2001 – Moses, opera after Ivan Franko (in Ukrainian) 2003 – , a setting of a text by Taras Shevchenko 2015 – Penitential Psalm, commemorating the "Heavenly Hundred" protesters who were shot dead by snipers during the Euromaidan in February 2014

Instrumental 1959 – (In the Carpathian Mountains) for piano 1959 – Album Leaf for solo piano; Carpathian Rhapsody for clarinet and piano 1959 – Melody for solo piano. 1959 – Three Jazz Pieces for 4-hands piano 1960 – (Spring), cantata on verses by Ivan Franko for soloists, chorus and symphony orchestra 1960 – Waltz for symphony orchestra 1960 – Kolomyika for piano 1961 – Suite for string orchestra 1962 – Rondeau for piano 1962 – Variations for piano 1963 – Violin Sonata No. 1 1963 – (Stronger than Death), symphonic poem 1964 – Burlesque for piano 1964 – Blues for piano 1965 – (from the film score to (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors)) 1965 – (From the Children's Album) for piano 1965 – Four children's plays for piano 1966 – Partita No. 1 for string orchestra 1967 – (Stonecutters), ballet after a poem by Ivan Franko 1969 – Violin Concerto; Skoryk has composed 9 violin concertos in total. 2009 – Violin Concerto No. 6 2011 – Violin Concerto No. 7 2011 – Violin Concerto No. 8 ("Allusion to Chopin") 2014 – Violin Concerto No. 9

Popular music LP records (issued by Melodiya): 1966 – ("Draw Me the Night") - lyrics by Mykola Petrenko, vocals by Lyubov Chaikovska 1967 – ("Don't tread the May bells") - lyrics by Rostyslav Bratun 1976 – ("Three trembitas") - words by O. Vratariov, performed by VIA Kalyna

Film scores 1965 – Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors 1967 – Cossacks (cartoon) 1967 – This Hard Earth 1971 – Living Water 1972 – For Your Fate 1974 – Swan Geese are Flying 1974 – Private Life 1979 – Hryshko's Books (cartoon) 1979 – Invisible Job 1981 – High Pass 1984 – Prelude to Fate 1991 – Bells didn't toll when we were dying 1994 – Princess (series) 2007 – Mykyta the Fox (cartoon) 2019 – Taras. Return

Awards People's Artist of Ukraine Hero of Ukraine Order of the State (2008).