WITH UKRAINE IN HIS HEART. IN MEMORY OF PEOPLE’S ARTIST OF UKRAINE, PROFESSOR BOHDAN BAZYLYKUT (TO THE 85TH BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY)
Authors:   Ivan Franko Lviv National University, Department of Musical Arts, YUZYUK Nataliya 
Published: September 2024

The future opera singer Bohdan Basylykut, People’s Artist of Ukraine, professor was born and raised in 1938 in the Ternopil region, in a family of simple laborers. He passed away after a long illness in 2020 in the city of Lviv. B. Basylykut sang in the school choir, mastered musical literacy on his own and learned to play the trumpet. At first, the future artist chose the profession of a school teacher. Although in 1955, he entered the philological faculty of the Lviv State Pedagogical Institute for two specialties at once: “teacher of Ukrainian language and literature” and “teacher of music and singing”. Over time, the love of singing prevailed. After graduating from the Institute, B. Basylykut worked here as a vocal teacher, but continued to improve his performing skills the former soloist of the Kharkiv and Kyiv Opera Theaters Mykhailo Kopnin, a student of the famous spanish tenor Carlos Barrera. It was he who taught B. Basylykut a conscious approach to vocals, encouraged intensive collection and study of methodical literature on the subject, and, most importantly, revealed the secrets of correct, professional singing of the famous “bel canto”. Even in his first student years, the young singer took an active part in various concerts and festivals sang on the radio, on television, the first favorable reviews of the press appeared. Soon the young singer improved his vocal and acting skills at the evening department of the Lviv State Conservatory named after M. V. Lysenko in the class of Mykola Shelyuzhka. November 1969, B. Basylykut became the laureate of the first prize of the republican youth festival. The late 1960s and early 1970s, the young singer toured for the first time in Ukraine, later in Belgium, Bulgaria, and Cuba. Since 1971, the young singer has been a soloist of the Lviv Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet named after I. Franko (now Lviv National Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. Krushelnytska). B. Basylykut’s creative works included all the leading parts of the classical Western European and Ukrainian opera repertoire. Since the end of the 1970s, B. Basylykut has been performing in many solemn concerts in Kyiv, he has toured a lot – in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia. And no matter which country the singer goes to, he always sings arias from national operas or folk songs in the original language. Over time, a considerable repertoire accumulated, and the singer prepared for recording 15 folk songs in the original language of each union republic. The unusual repertoire attracted the interest of the Melodiya record company, and in 1979 it released an album with recordings of this program performed by B. Basylykut. At the dawn of the Ukrainian Renaissance, in 1991, the first Ukrainian audio cassette with the recordings of the honored artist B. Bazylykut, “Christ was born! Christmas carols”. Three years later, listeners received another audio cassette, “Striletskyi songs by R. Kupchinsky”. Separate page of the artistic life of the singer and the students of his class was the annual preparation of thematic concerts from vocal works to poetic texts by T. Shevchenko. The beginning of the XXI century. Lviv regional television recorded three festive concerts from the cycle “To a wreath to Kobzar”. Recent years, not only students have participated in such annual march concerts, but also many graduates of previous years have gathered. From 1999 to 2020, People’s Artist of Ukraine, Professor B. Basylykut worked at the faculty of culture and arts of the Lviv national University named after Ivan Franko. For teachers, students and all those interested in Ukrainian song, the professor organized repertoire collections: “Ukrainian and romances from the repertoire of Bohdan Basylykut”, “Textbook of vocal works for bass”, “Ukrainian folk songs for mezzo-soprano”, “Lyrical songs of Ukrainian composers”. The professor’s personal creative experience was a thorough basis for inculcating young people with professional skills and a wide range of skills. Today, the students of the professor’s class work fruitfully as vocal teachers, passing on the traditions of the class and the professional instructions of their unforgettable teacher. They also successfully work in the creative field, sing on domestic and foreign opera stages. Therefore, the multifaceted gift of the people’s artist of Ukraine, Professor B. Basylykut, formed an exceptionally successful, fruitful creative activity in various aspects: performing, pedagogical and scientific, and it is very difficult to determine which aspect was the leading one. The Maestro spent his life and creative career as a talented singer, an outstanding teacher, a citizen and a sincere patriot of Ukraine.