Ihor Sonevytsky (Ukrainian: Ігор Михайлович Соневицький) (1926–2006) was a Ukrainian-born composer, conductor, pianist and musicologist.
Life
editBorn on 2 January 1926 in Hadynkivtsi, Galicia (now in Western Ukraine), Ihor Sonevytsky was the son of Dr. Michael Sonevytsky (Ukrainian: Михайло Соневицький), a noted Ukrainian classical philologist, and Olha Sonevytsky, a journalist. He studied at the Vienna Musical Academy and completed his musical studies with a diploma in composition, conducting and piano performance from the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik, Munich (1950) and the Ukrainian Free University, Munich (1961).[1]
His family emigrated to the US short after. There he became a cofounder of the Ukrainian Music Institute of America,[1] and served as its director from 1959 to 1961. In 1983 he established the Grazhda Music and Art Center of Greene County, New York.[2]
Sonevytsky conducted five different Ukrainian choirs, organized and directed a Ukrainian string orchestra and opera ensemble, taught private students, and lectured at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome.
He wrote over 500 music-related articles for various newspapers and periodicals. He wrote several music books, including The Dictionary of Ukrainian Composers, which lists 522 Ukrainian composers from around the world.[3][4]
He is the author of the opera "Star", the ballet "Cinderella", some chamber music, a series of piano works and a catalogue of choral and vocal music.[1][5]
Sonevytsky became the first Ukrainian émigré composer to be published in his homeland, when the Ukrainian State Publishing House "Muzychna Ukraina" published a collection of his solo songs in 1993.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b c Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. "Sonevytsky, Ihor". Retrieved February 24, 2020.
- ^ "'Grazhda' Music and Art Center of Greene County". Retrieved February 24, 2020.
- ^ Leslie De'Ath, Language and Diction: Ukrainian Vocal Repertory and Lyric Diction. Journal of Singing 61, 3 (2005): 280
- ^ Sonevyt︠s︡ʹkyĭ, Ihor, and Natalii︠a︡ Palidvor-Sonevyt︠s︡ʹka. 1997. Dictionary of Ukrainian composers. Lʹviv: Union of Ukrainian Composers.
- ^ a b Duma Music Inc. "The music of Ihor Sonevytsky". Retrieved February 24, 2020.