Yorysh, Volodymyr

Yorysh, Volodymyr [Йориш, Володимир; Joryš], b 25 November 1899 in Katerynoslav, d 21 June 1945 in Kyiv. Composer and conductor. He was educated in Katerynoslav, where he graduated in piano (1917) from the music school and in conducting and composition (1917–24) from the music tekhnikum. In 1928–34 he conducted opera theaters in the city and from 1934 the Kyiv Theater of Opera and Ballet. Among his works are four operas, including Karmeliuk (1930) and Poem about Steel (1932); the ballet The Devil’s Night (1943); Ukrainian Bazaar for symphony orchestra; and a string quartet. He was also the author of unsuccessful and unstylish remakes of Mykola Lysenko’s Natalka from Poltava and Semen Hulak-Artemovsky’s Zaporozhian Cossack beyond the Danube.

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