Vasily Mikhailovich Vilinsky (August 22 (September 3) 1842 - December 20 (January 1) 1875) was a composer, conductor, director, singer, actor, thespian, and public figure during the reign of Alexander III.

Vasily Mikhailovich Vilinsky
Василий Михайлович Вилинский
BornSeptember 3rd, 1842
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
DiedJanuary 1st, 1875 (age 32)
Kharkov, Russia
Occupation(s)Composer, Conductor

Biography edit

Vasily was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in the fall of 1842, and is a direct descendant of the Vasily lineage as begun by Vasily Ivanovich Velinsky, the Starodubovsky city Ataman (1746-1748) in the Cossack Hetmanate. Vasily graduated from the Kyiv gymnasium where he studied at St. Petersburg University, additionally taking music lessons from the composer Alexander Serov. He moved to Kiev and continued his studies at Kiev University. In the local philharmonic organization at the time, he became an accomplished instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He became one of the founders of the Kiev branch of the Russian Musical Society (since 1863 - a member of the directorate, 1872-1874 - music director), founded by Anton Rubenstein in 1859.[1]

In 1863-1865, he began working as a choirmaster and bandmaster at the Italian Opera in Kyiv. In 1867, he staged the opera "Natalka Poltavka" by N. V. Lysenko in the city theater. That same year, together with the entrepreneur and soloist F. Berger, he founded the Kyiv Russian Opera. Until 1874, Vasily was serving as the opera's chief conductor. He toured for a long time, in particular Odessa, and in the last year of his life, he became the artistic director of the Kharkov Opera.[2]

Literature edit

  1. Chechott V. A. Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Kyiv Russian Opera. K., 1893

References edit

  1. ^ Art of Ukraine. Volume 1: А-В: Encyclopedia / Ed.Coll.: Rev. Ed. A.V. Kudrytskyi. - Kyiv: Ukrainian Encyclopedia, 1995/ C/ 345 ↑
  2. ^ Usenko P.G. VILINSKY Vasyl Mykhailovych  // Encyclopedia of the history of Ukraine  : in 10 volumes: [ Ukrainian ]  / editor: V. A. Smoliy (head) and others. ; Institute of the History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine . — K  .: Naukova dumka , 2003. — Vol. 1: A — V. — 688 p. : fig. — ISBN 966-00-0734-5