Anatoliy Vasylyovych Kalabukhin: the phenomenon of a creative personality
Authors: Chyzhenko M. 
Published: May 2020

Background. Among the music-performing professions, the conductor is perhaps the most difficult. It requires not only special musical abilities, temperament, fantasy and artistic thinking, erudition and technique, but also the ability to lead a large creative team. All these features are characteristic of Anatoliy Vasylyovych Kalabukhin. In the context of the contemporary music art of Ukraine, his name is famous, first, as a symphonic and opera conductor, and later – as the founder of one of the first opera studios at Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I. P. Kotlyarevsky. Therefore, the resonance of the 80-year history of the leading music institution of Slobozhanshchyna region, which is inseparably linked with the biography of this amazing man, an outstanding conductor and a leader who has brought up several generations of opera singers, is getting its actual sounding. The subject of the study is the life-and-work of Anatoliy Vasylyovych Kalabukhin as a prominent representative of Ukrainian musical art of the second half of the 20th–21st centuries. The purpose of the article is to give an estimation of A. V. Kalabukhin’s multi-vector activity in the aspect of the phenomenon of his personality. Analysis of recent publications on the topic. Based on the interview with A. V. Kalabukhin, other sources and information about the famous musician [research made by O. Volovnyk, T. Volovnyk, A. Mizitova, L. Kucher] the author develops a phenomenological approach to studying the master’s life-and-work in the light of his multi-vector activity, and this approach has not been used by the previous researchers. Methods. In order to understand the phenomenon of this creative personality we have involved historical-biographical (revealing the stages of the becoming and of the creative maturity of the master) and cultural (explaining the contexts of artistic life in Kharkiv and the cultural settings with which he was associated). Results. Anatoliy Vasylyovych Kalabukhin was born on June 21, 1930 in the city of Lugansk, in the family of a worker. The grandfather and father worked in the boiler department of the steam-generating plant, the mother Clavdiya Leontiyivna – in the bakery. The grandfather’s name, Kalabukha (it is the name of the boat that was turned upside down, a Cossack-scout went under it and sailed, looking for the enemy on the shore) was changed when his father served in the Red Army. Emphasizing the role of the biographical method in the study of the phenomenon of the personality of the master, it is necessary to point out the circumstances of the professional education. Anatoliy Vasylyovych had good teachers, so he not only inherited the high criteria of classical art, but also developed its foundations in the new socio-cultural realities (from the 70’s to the present days). And already on the basis of the continuity of the conducting profession, as a kind of a tradition, innovative searches were carried out in the conditions of certain challenges of the time (music theatre, educational audience or opera studio at Kharkiv Institute of Arts). The stages of A. V. Kalabukhin’s creative biography as the conductor and organizer of the artistic life of Kharkiv, in particular, the opera studio, have been revealed. The conductor’s memoirs highlight the most iconic figures and performances that reveal his professional principle and qualities. His conductor style is distinguished by the perfect sense of style and form, rhythmic harmony, sound balance of the orchestra groups, and the skilful distribution of orchestral colours. A. V. Kalabukhin is a conductor of a wide profile; he is rightly called a universalist: the activity of the maestro was large-scale and distinguished, both in the symphonic genre and the opera-symphonic one. This synthesis, in his opinion, helps to expand the artistic range of the creator, and enriches his thinking. The conclusions formulate those qualities that have ensured Kalabukhin’s leadership status and success in all areas of activity. First, the enormous inner life force – charisma. All those who spoke with A. V. Kalabukhin during the rehearsal on stage or in the classroom, note that he seems to radiate enormous energy to the creative process in the team. Secondly, his credo – the individual approach to each performer – always remains the same. During his lifetime this credo allowed him to give birth to various creative ideas, to embody his projects, to uphold his own vision of the concept of a piece of music or a play. The third factor in the creative mind is the understanding of the organics of the vocal and stage image. A. V. Kalabukhin knows the laws of human psychology, feels exactly the psycho-type of the musician. With his experience, he helps the singer to increase consciousness, to improve vocal and stage skills. Thus, the “three whales” of the master’s professional activity – conductor, teacher, and organizer – make up the phenomenon of the personality. The figure of the master is a valuable guideline for the young generation of Ukrainian musical culture. The phenomenon of Kalabukhin lies in the vital force and ability to creatively and steadily extend the traditions of classical art on the basis of the education of its carriers here, in Ukraine. The relationship with performers and the professional vision of how to open up their talent on stage are the key to the success of the educator of the young generation of the Ukrainian vocal art.