Bohodar Kotorovych (1941-2009) is an outstanding violinist, People’s Artist of Ukraine, laureate of the Taras Shevchenko State Prize. Professor, head of the violin department of the P.I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, artistic director and conductor of the State (now National) Chamber Ensemble “Kyiv Soloists” from 1995 to 2009.
His rapid career began while studying at the Moscow Conservatory (class of the famous teacher Yu.I. Yankelevich): while still a student, Bohodar Kotorovych became a laureate of a number of the most prestigious international competitions, including the Niccolo Paganini competitions in Genoa and the George Enescu competitions in Bucharest.
For several years he worked at the Sydney Conservatory (Australia) as a visiting professor.
In 1995, he founded the International Competition of Young Violinists in Kharkiv.
The maestro is the only foreign violinist in the world who had the honor of playing the legendary PAGANINI violin outside of Italy. In May 1999, the mayor of the Italian city of Genoa brought to Kyiv a violin by Niccolò Paganini “Canon” by Guarneri del Gesù on a special flight for two concerts by B. Kotorovich, which were held with extraordinary full houses in the best halls of the city.
Professor Kotorovych B.A. was constantly invited to the jury of the most famous international competitions (ARD in Munich, N. Paganini in Genoa, P. I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow, K. Nielsen in Odense, B. Britten in London, etc.) and headed the Ukrainian International Violin Competition named after M. Lysenko in Kyiv, and in 2004 he became the artistic director of the BrittenKyivFestival.
Bohodar Kotorovych is a worthy representative of the founders of the Ukrainian violin school, David Bertier, Yakov Magaziner, and Petro Stolyarsky. Graduates of Kotorovych’s class are bright musicians who continue his traditions in different countries of the world. Among them are A.Komisarova (Denmark), M.Kotorovych (Ukraine), O.Kotorovych (New Zealand), V.Kuznetsov (Poland), T.Pecheniy (Croatia), B.Pivnenko, K.Stetsenko (Ukraine), D.Tkachenko (England), S.Shott (Ukraine) and others.
According to the results of his creative activity in 1999 and 2000, Bohodar Kotorovych became twice a laureate of the prestigious All-Ukrainian award “Person of the Year”. He was awarded the Order “For Merit” of the III degree.
