Major General Volodymyr Fedorovych Derkach ( Ukrainian: Володимир Федорович Деркач) is a retired Ukrainian musician who worked for the

Ukrainian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

. His last post he served in was as the Senior Military Director of the

Military Music Department of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces The Military Music Department of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces serves as the official service of military bands and choirs in active service within the Armed Forces of Ukraine. List of Directors General – Senior Directors of ...

(MMD-GSAFU). He also served concurrently as the director of the National Exemplary Band of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Professional career

Derkach was born in the village of , of the

Velyka Pysarivka Raion Velyka Pysarivka Raion () was a raion in Sumy Oblast in Central Ukraine. The administrative center of the raion was the urban-type settlement of Velyka Pysarivka. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Uk ...

of the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. He started his musical career in 1977, after he graduated from his trumpet class at the

Sumy Sumy (, , ) is a city in northeastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel (river), Psel River and has a population of making it the 23rd-largest in the country. The city ...

Music College. From then on, Derkach began to serve as a musician of the

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

, first serving in the 14th Band of the

Kyiv Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

. After studying at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

, he immediately rose through the Army's ranks, becoming the conductor of the HQ Band of the

Odessa Military District The Odessa Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This district consisted of Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavia and five Oblasts of Ukraine, Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa ...

in 1986. He would serve in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

for 6 more years in another position before becoming in 1992, the Deputy Chief of the Military Band Service. In 1995, he was promoted to director of music of the MMD-GSAFU. In that same year, he would command the massed bands the during his first major event, the parade for the

golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...

of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

held on

Maidan Nezalezhnosti Maidan Nezalezhnosti (, ) or Independence Square is the central town square of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchenko Raion. The square contains the iconic Ind ...

and

Khreshchatyk Khreshchatyk (, ) is the main street of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. The street is long, and runs in a northeast-southwest direction from European Square (Kyiv), European Square through the Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Maidan to Bessarabska Sq ...

. Later on, in the early 2000s, he served as a professor in the

Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts (KNUCA, ) – is a university in Kyiv, Ukraine with level IV of accreditation History In 1968 in accordance with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 608 from August 8, 1968, ...

. He was dismissed from his post in 2014 and was succeeded by Colonel Volodymyr Dashkovsky.

Legacy

During his tenure, he played a major role in the reformation of the military bands from the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

era and was considered to be responsible for the post-1991 Ukrainiazation of domestic military music, slowly replacing old Soviet marches like the ''Slow March of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

'' with the ''Slow March of the Ukrainian Army'' or ''

Farewell of Slavianka "Farewell of Slavianka" ( rus, Прощание славянки, p=prɐˈɕːænʲɪje sɫɐˈvʲankʲɪ) is a Russian patriotic march, written by the composer Vasily Agapkin in honor of Slavic women accompanying their husbands in the First B ...

'' with the '' Zaporizhian March''. He also worked to make Ukrainian military music distinct from Russian style music, such as including timpanists in the massed bands. Among his more notable parade events were the 2001

Kyiv Independence Day Parade The Kyiv Independence Day Parade () has been the main event of various celebrations of the Independence Day of Ukraine, which is celebrated annually in Kyiv on August 24.

, the

60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Ukraine 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexago ...

in 2004 and the 2010 Kyiv Victory Day Parade. He founded of the International Festival of Military Orchestras in

in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derkach, Volodymyr 1957 births Living people Male conductors (music) Ukrainian generals Moscow Conservatory alumni Recipients of the title of People's Artists of Ukraine 21st-century Ukrainian conductors (music) Military musicians Academic staff of the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts 21st-century male musicians

Professional career

Legacy

See also

References