Yurii Leonidovych Kerpatenko (; 9 September 1976 – 28 September 2022) was a Ukrainian conductor, orchestrator, and accordionist who was the principal conductor of the from 2004 until his death in 2022. He was also the principal conductor of the Gileya chamber orchestra of the from 2000 until 2022. Kerpatenko declined to cooperate during the

Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast The ongoing military occupation of Ukraine's Kherson Oblast () by Russian forces began on 24February 2022, when Russian forces Russian invasion of Ukraine, invaded Ukraine from Crimea. It was administrated under a Russian-controlled military-ci ...

and was killed by Russian soldiers in his home in September 2022.

Life

Kerpatenko was born 9 September 1976 in

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

. He graduated in the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

class from State Secondary School No. 1 in 1991 under teacher A.V. Kostrub. Kerpatenko attended the from 1991 until his graduation in 1995 where he studied under V.I. Melnichenko. He graduated from the

Kyiv Conservatory The Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music (), formerly Kyiv Conservatory, is a national music tertiary academy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Its courses include postgraduate education. History The Kyiv Conservatory was founded on 3 November 1913 at ...

in 2000 where he studied in the department of folk instruments and was part of the accordion class. He was considered a virtuoso player of the

Bayan Bayan may refer to: Educational institutions * Bayan Islamic Graduate School, Chicago, IL Places *Bayan-Aul, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan *Bayan Mountain, an ancient mountain name for part of Tarbagatai Mountains at Kazakhstan in Qing Dynasty period *B ...

. In 2004, Kerpatenko also graduated with distinction from the department of opera and symphonic conducting under professor V.B. Hnyedash and instrumental science and orchestration under professor Lev Kolodub. He became the principal conductor of the Kherson Regional Philharmonic's chamber orchestra, "Gilea" in 2000. Since August 2004, he was also the principal conductor of the Mykola Kulish Music and Drama Theatre. During the

, Kerpatenko continued posting defiant messages on Facebook through May 2022.

Death

In September 2022, family members of Kerpatenko outside of Kherson lost contact with him. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy reported that he had declined to participate in an upcoming October 1 concert hosted by the Russian occupiers. The Russian administration planned to feature Kerpatenko's Gileya chamber orchestra in a concert "intended by the occupiers to demonstrate the so-called 'improvement of peaceful life' in Kherson". Later, the Ukrainian ministry claimed that he was shot dead in his home by the

Russian military The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent comba ...

due to refusing to cooperate with them during their occupation of Kherson Oblast. His death was reported on 13 October 2022.

Reactions

Ukraine's Kherson regional prosecutor's office is investigating his death "on the basis of violations of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder." Musicians

Dalia Stasevska Dalia Stasevska (; born 30 December 1984) is a Ukrainian-born Finnish conductor. She is currently principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra (Sinfonia Lahti). Biography Born in Kyi ...

, Semyon Bychkov, Vlad, and

Roger O'Donnell Roger O'Donnell (born 29 October 1955) is an English keyboardist best known as a longtime member of The Cure, which he first joined in 1987 and for which he has served three different tenures. O'Donnell has also performed as a touring and sessio ...

and writer Andrey Kurko responded to the news of his death on social media.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerpatenko, Yurii 1976 births 2022 deaths 2022 murders in Europe Civilians killed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine People murdered in Ukraine Kyiv Conservatory alumni 21st-century Ukrainian conductors (music) Musicians from Kherson Ukrainian male conductors (music) Ukrainian accordionists 21st-century accordionists Music arrangers

Life

Death

Reactions

See also

References