THE LIVING COMPOSERS PROJECT  

Yuri Laniuk

(b. 7 June 1957, Lviv).

Ukrainian composer of orchestral, chamber and choral works that have been performed in Europe and North America.

Prof. Laniuk studied cello with Yevhen Shpitser and composition with Dezydery Zador at the M. V. Lysenko National Music Academy in Lviv from 1975–80. He then had postgraduate studies in cello with Vadim Chervov at the P. I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kiev from 1980–82. He also had fruitful contact with Andrzej Nikodemowicz in Lviv.

Among his honours are First Prize as a cellist in the competition Lysenko in Kiev (1979) and the Levko Revutsky Prize for Composition in Kiev (1989, for Two Brooks and Diptych [both withdrawn]). He later received the Boris Lyatoshinsky Prize from the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine (2001, for his recording on the label Accord) and the Taras Shevchenko National Prize from the government of Ukraine (2005, for PalimpsestyPalimpsests and Music from the Book of Mysterious Spaces and Elegies for the Bird-Light). His music has been performed in Austria, Canada, Germany, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the USA.

Prof. Laniuk is also active in other positions. As a cellist, he mainly worked in the 1970s–80s and performed répertoire from Ukraine. He later co-founded with Roman Rewakowicz the festival for contemporary music Contrasts in Lviv in 1995 and has served as its co-organiser with Myroslav Skoryk and Volodymyr Syvokhip since 1995.

He has taught cello and composition at the M. V. Lysenko National Music Academy since 1982, where he was an assistant professor from 1982–93 and a docent from 1993–2001 and where he has been a professor since 2001.

CONTACT INFORMATION

E-mail address: laniuk@neonet.ua

SELECT LIST OF WORKS

ORCHESTRAL:

Chamber Music, piano, harpsichord, percussion, 19 strings, 1989

Grieving Thorn (text by Bohdan-Ihor Antonych), soprano, oboe, piano, celesta, percussion, string orchestra, 1991

Music to the memories, new parables and sermons (text by Nicanor Parra [translated by Bohdan Boychuk]), soprano, baritone, orchestra (7 winds, 3 B-flat trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, harp, piano, celesta [+ harpsichord], 3 percussion, strings), 1997

Palimpsesty (texts from the Book of John [ancient Greek version], Vasyl Stus), mixed chorus, violin, large orchestra, 1998

TanG(h)opak, piano, small orchestra (2 percussion, 21 strings), 2001

L'Annonciation (vocalise), mixed chorus, violin, 21 strings, 2003

Lieder jenseits der Menschen (text by Paul Celan), mezzo-soprano, piano (+ celesta, harpsichord, triangle), 21 strings (both 6th first violin, 4th cello + triangle), 2004

CHAMBER MUSIC:

Chant pour un Équinoxe (text by Saint-John Perse), soprano, baritone, flute, oboe, clarinet, piano (+ harpsichord), percussion, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, 1991

Musique pour recherche, flute (+ piccolo), oboe, clarinet (+ bass clarinet), violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano, percussion, 1996

Anticipation Sonata (vocalise), 4 off-stage mixed voices/any 4 similar winds/fixed media, cello, piano, 1997

Music from the Book of Mysterious Spaces and Elegies for the Bird-Light, cello, piano, ensemble (4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos), 2000

Life's knots are as the knots of birds' flight..., flute (+ piccolo), oboe, viola, cello, piano, 2001

CHORAL:

Diptych (text by Taras Shevchenko), 24 or more mixed voices, 2006

Zoloty hominThe Golden Echo (text by Pavlo Tychyna), 24 or more mixed voices, 2006