Jump to content

Borys Hmyria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bender the Bot (talk | contribs) at 06:42, 27 November 2016 (Look and listen: clean up; http→https for YouTube using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A ₴2 commemorative coin issued in 2003

Borys Romanovich Hmyria (Template:Lang-ua; Template:Lang-ru; sometimes spelt as Gmyrya; born 1903 in Lebedyn—died 1969 in Kiev) was a Ukrainian basso cantante singer of opera and art song.

During World War II, he stayed in Nazi-occupied Poltava where he performed for the Germans. This kind of behavior was considered to be collaboration with enemy by the Soviet authorities, and Hmyria would have been imprisoned and executed[1] were it not for Joseph Stalin's intervention. Hmyria's partner, Valentina Ishchenko, was not so lucky and was exiled to Vorkuta.

A friend of Dmitry Shostakovich, Hmyria was asked by the composer to participate in the premiere of his Thirteenth Symphony as lead soloist. Hmyria refused for fear of political repercussions.[2]

Look and listen

References

  1. ^ Dmytro Hnatyuk, Dmitry Gordon (2003). "Dmytro Hnatyuk interview" ("Television production") (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  2. ^ Wilson, Elizabeth, Shostakovich: A Life Remembered, Second Edition (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994, 2006). ISBN 978-0-691-12886-3. Page 403