Congratulations, Maestro! Yurii Rybchynskyi Turned 70
Ukrainian poet, playwright and screenwriter, Merited Artist of Ukraine and one of the founders of modern Ukrainian pop music Yurii Yevhenovych Rybchynskyi celebrates his anniversary today.
Yurii Yevhenovych was born on 22nd May 1945 in an old Kyiv district – Podil. Young Rybchynskyi developed a serious fondness for poetry in the 60’s. It was the period of the “Khrushchev’s Thaw”, when spiritual growth of the society and active development of all forms of art, including literature, were taking place.
Here’s what the Poet says about the origins of his literary creativity, “After eighth grade I unexpectedly started to write poems. I don’t know how would my creative life have turned out, but I was extremely fortunate to have my first Teacher of Poetry. For me that was Les Taniuk, a student of Karpenko-Kary Institute of Theatrical Arts. My first naïve juvenile poems fell into his hands. Since ninth grade my works have been published in Kyiv and Ukrainian press. Being in tenth grade I already knew exactly I would enter the philological faculty. In 1962 I became a student of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv”.
And when Yurii was eighteen years old his works appeared in the popular All-Union youth magazine of that time –Yunost (Youth). However, after a while something happened and, as Maestro himself confesses, it changed all his further life dramatically. “At one of the parties”, writes Yurii Yevhenovych in his memoirs, “somewhere in the area of Lvivska Square, where a company of students had gathered I heard astrological forecast of my destiny. Despite the fact that it was the horoscope drawn up by Krafft, Hitler’s astrologer, I didn’t believe it, cause it said that I would be engaged in music for the rest of my life. I was already twenty years old. I had nothing to do with music and didn’t play any musical instrument. And in fact how does music come into the picture when the poetry was my calling? However Krafft, who once foresaw Hitler’s collapse on the Volga River, turned to be not a cheater, but a prophet. And a week later I was introduced to the young composer Ihor Poklad, who was still a conservatory student, but at the same time an author of several popular songs, including such hit as “Kokhana” (“Sweetheart”). This meeting became a historical one for me as it has changed my destiny drastically”.
Since then Rybchynskyi has become not just a poet, but a songwriter. The range of composers with whom the poet had worked in creative alliance has increased over the years. Volodymyr Ivasiuk, Ihor Poklad, Mykola Mozhovyi, Ihor Shamo, Hennadii Tatarchenko – this is far not a full list of composers who created more than one hit in Ukrainian and All-Union pop music in cooperation with Rybchynskyi. At different times Nina Matvienko, Nazarii Yaremchuk, Vasyl Zinkevych, Sofia Rotaru, Taisiia Povaliy, Natalia Mohylevska, Ruslana Lyzhychko, Pavlo Zibrov, Tamara Hverdzyteli as well as many other famous singers performed his songs.
Yurii Yevhenovych’s work in the theatre also cannot be forgotten. “In mid 70’s I went into playwriting”, the Maestro recalls. “Together with the composer Vadym Ilin I wrote such musicals as “Piznya Serenada” (“Late Serenade”) “Tovarysh Liubov” (“Comrade Liubov”), “Brekhukha” (“Liar”), “Tvir Na Temu Kokhannia” (“An Essay On Love”). In 1989 I wrote the musical “Bila Hvardiia” (“The White Guard”) based on Mykhailo Bulgakov’s novel together with the composer Mark Minkov and in 2005 the rock opera “The Perfumer” based on Patrick Süskind’s novel was written together with the composer Ihor Demarin. These musicals were very successfully performed in many operetta theatres in particular in Odessa, Sverdlovsk, Moscow, Kyiv and other theatres in the Post-Soviet area. In the early 80’s I started to write my own plays for both music and dramatic theatres. As a result such plays as “Bila Vorona” (“The White Crow”), “Edith Piaf. Zhyttia V Kredyt” (“Edith Piaf. Life On Credit”), “Mizh Misiatsem I Betkhovenom” (“Between the Moon and Beethoven”), “Tsar Irod” (“King Herod”), “Psy” (“Dogs”), “Zustrich Veteraniv Dytiachoho Khrestovogo Pokhodu” (“The Meeting Of Child Crusade Veterans”) and “Judith”. “The White Crow” play written in 1985 became the basis for the first Ukrainian rock opera created with the composer Hennadii Tatarchenko and staged in Kyiv Ivan Franko Theatre by the prominent Ukrainian director Serhii Danchenko in 1991.
Throughout his creative life Yurii Yevhenovych won fifteen “Pesnya Goda” (“Song Of The Year”) television festivals. He was a jury member of multiple All-Union and International music contests, theatre festivals and television show programs. In 1997 the Poet obtained the title of Honored Arts Worker of Ukraine, in 2000 – the title of People’s Artist. He was awarded the honorary title “The Person of The Year” in 1997 and received the Gogol prize for his contribution to dramaturgy in 2009. On the initiative and recommendation of the Embassy of France Yurii Yevhenovych became the Honorary Citizen of Orleans city, France, and a while later, in May 2009, was named the Honorary citizen of his native city – Kyiv.
So UACRR joins the choir of best wishes. We are sure Maestro Rybchynckyi will hear plenty of them today.
In conclusion we would like to quote the Poet’s son Yevhen Rybchynskyi. We believe his words are the best because they come from the heart. “He is the coeval of the Great Victory and he always overpowered and still overpowers indifference, slander and envy. He is the Great Poet, Great Man and Citizen. I am proud to be the son of such person”. So, many happy returns, dear Yurii Yevhenovych!