Volodymyr Yurkevych
Encyclopedia
(Kobzar Yurchenko)
(2/XII/1912 -7/V/1985)
Yurkevych was born December 2, 1912 in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
.
He met up with Yuri Singalevych and began to take lessons from him. Together with Zinoviy Shtokalko
Zinoviy Shtokalko
Zinoviy Shtokalko . Amongst the more renowned performers of bandura art, one of the prominent is that of bandurist virtuoso Zinoviy Shtokalko.-Biography:...
they organized a bandura
Bandura
Bandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as its lute-like predecessor, the kobza...
trio. Later they were joined by Stepan Hanushevsky and Semen Lastovych.
His original bandura was made for him by S. Lastovych based on an instrument made by Kost Misevych.
During the war he enlisted into the 1st Ukrainian Division and fought at Brody
Brody
Brody is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Brody Raion , and is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately 90 kilometres northeast of the oblast capital, Lviv...
. Later he joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
In Germany he performed in a trio with Volodymyr Maliutsa and Zinoviy Shtokalko. Later he joined an ensemble with D. Kravchenko and Hryhory Bazhul.
In 1950 he emigrated the United States.
He performed in an ensemble directed by S. Hanushevsky which recorded an album of UPA songs in 1952.
In 1972 he organized a Bandurist Capella made up of members of the First Ukrainian Division who lived in NY.
He also performed in a quartet with Roman Levytsky.
Moved to NY where he became director of the New York School of Bandura.
Played on a bandura made by Vasyl' Hlad from Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
.
Died 7/V/1985.