Dmytro Morykit (born 3 December 1956) is a British composer and pianist.

Early life and education

Morykit was born in Northampton to a Ukrainian father and Italian mother, who were both displaced from their respective countries after World War II. He started playing the piano at five under the tuition of Christina Griffin and later, Graham Mayo. He won the prize for best original composition at the

National Student Drama Festival The UK based National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) was founded in 1956 with the purpose of creating new art, new artists and new communities. It also runs a charity aimed at empowering young artists. The NSDF is targeted towards people aged ...

in 1979 when Sebastian Graham Jones first recommended the prize. Clive Wolfe, Director of the NSDA later wrote in

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

, "Mendelssohn and Co watch out! The new incidental music for the National Student Theatre Company's Christmas production of Twelfth Night is by 1979 NSDF best music award winner Dmytro Morykit (Nene College). It is strongly melodic with baroque undertones, creating mood and scene."

Career

After visiting

Richard Demarco Richard Demarco CBE (born 9 July 1930 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts. Early life He was born at 9 Grosvenor Street in Edinburgh on 9 July 1930 the son of Carmino Demarco and his wife Elizabe ...

in Edinburgh, Morykit made his home there in 1988. He worked on compositions for numerous collaborations with dance and theatre companies. Morykit accompanied Demarco and other artists on a cultural expedition to communist Poland in 1989. Morykit was commissioned by

Angus Calder Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder (5 February 1942 – 5 June 2008) was a Scottish writer, historian, and poet. Initially studying English literature, he became interested in political history and wrote a landmark study on Britain during the Second Wo ...

and Amnesty International (Scotland) in 1996 for a performance of 12 poems with music for Commonwealth Head of States visit to Edinburgh, at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh. In 2007 he was commissioned by the Scottish Consul General of Ukraine to write a piece to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the

Holodomor The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a mass famine in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–193 ...

. The resulting collaboration with choreographer, Steinvor Palsson, was a dance film, Portrait of Evil. He has composed work for a number of short films and in 2010 with

Brian May Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...

's permission, arranged the complete Bohemian Rhapsody music on piano to accompany the protest video, Donald Trump does Bohemian Rhapsody. In 2014, Morykit created and performed a two-hour score to accompany the classic science fiction silent ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

''. The score combines newly composed pieces with a number of Morykit's existing compositions. The performance and the composition received favourable reviews. The piece was first performed in Perthshire, and later Morykit toured the UK, Europe and Canada, returning to Wilton's Music Hall in London on several occasions. In 2015, Morykit created and performed a new concert/score to accompany the classic silent film ''

Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' () is a 1922 silent film, silent German Expressionism (cinema), German Expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau from a screenplay by Henrik Galeen. It stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who ...

'' (1922) by

F. W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era. An e ...

. which was premiered for Halloween at the 14th C Leicester Guildhall before being toured. Morykit's partner is the poet Hazel Cameron. They were interviewed about the impact of COVID-19 on their work by the Harry Ransom Center. "Theatre 2020 CollectionDmytro Morykit and Hazel Cameron Oral History Interview"

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morykit, Dmytro 1956 births Living people British classical composers British classical pianists British people of Italian descent British people of Ukrainian descent Musicians from Northampton 21st-century British pianists Ukrainian people of British descent Ukrainian people of Italian descent