Volodymyr Sheiko

Corresponding Member of the NAA of Ukraine

Illustration

Volodymyr Sheiko

    born in 1962

Conductor

    Corresponding Member of the NAA of Ukraine (2021)

    Laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine (2019)

    People's Artist of Ukraine (2015)

    Honoured Artist of Ukraine (2003)

Volodymyr Sheiko is a conductor, the artistic director of the Music Artistic Association, and the chief conductor of the Honoured Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukrainian Radio.
In October 1990, he founded the first non-governmental symphony orchestra in Ukraine, under the name “Ukraine,” with which he conducted extensive concert and touring activities from 1991 to 2001. The orchestra performed across Croatia (1993), Italy (1993–1997, 1999, 2000), Austria (1994), France (1995, 1999), Portugal (1997), Poland (1997), and Switzerland (2000, 2001). During this period, he also made numerous recordings for Ukrainian radio and television, released a series of CDs (Italy, the United Kingdom, Switzerland), and organized international art festivals such as "Easter Encounters" (Kyiv, Ukraine – 2000, 2001, 2002) and “Tenoratorio” (Solothurn, Switzerland – 1999, 2000, 2001), as well as the opening of VERDIANO – 2001 (Busseto, Italy, 2001).
Between 1994 and 2002, he was actively engaged in theatrical productions, realizing a wide range of operatic and oratorio projects. These included Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, La Traviata and Rigoletto by Verdi, Carmen by Bizet, The Tsar’s Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov, The Barber of Seville by Rossini, Così fan tutte, The Impresario, and The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, Orpheus in the Underworld by Offenbach, as well as the Requiem by Mozart, Verdi, and Fauré, and Bach’s Magnificat.
From 1995 to 2005, he served as chief conductor of the Kyiv Academic Operetta Theatre, where he flourished as a gifted theatrical conductor. He staged 15 productions, many of which became landmark performances in the theatre’s history. Notable among them were Porgy and Bess by Gershwin, The Gypsy Baron and A Night in Venice by Johann Strauss, Countess Maritza by Kálmán, The Count of Luxembourg and The Merry Widow by Lehár, An Italian Dinner Party and Vivat, Offenbach! by Offenbach, and Such Jewish Happiness by Poklad, among others.
In August 2005, Volodymyr Sheiko was appointed chief conductor of the Honoured Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukrainian Radio. Under his leadership, the orchestra has created a unique archive of more than 350 recordings, capturing masterpieces of Ukrainian music and international classical repertoire.
The works of leading figures in Ukrainian musical art, alongside compositions by the younger generation of composers, as performed and recorded by the Ukrainian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Volodymyr Sheiko, are regularly broadcast on national channels and by the European Broadcasting Union across 56 countries worldwide.
Volodymyr Sheiko has led a series of major artistic projects in the realm of classical music, including Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s David’s Lamentation (its first performance in Ukraine), and the world premiere of A. Karamanov’s Symphonic Gospel. Among his notable undertakings is his own staged version of Carl Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana.
He has also developed a number of original, cyclical television and radio projects that enrich Ukraine’s media and cultural landscape. These include Art Stories, I Am a Virtuoso!, Symphonic Mainstream, RadioSymphony_UA, Concerts Without an Audience, Masterpieces, and Benefit Performance. Each of these productions has garnered significant public acclaim and become an integral part of Ukraine’s cultural chronicle. His concert programmes, rich in stylistic and genre diversity, have been performed both in Ukraine and abroad, with remarkable geographical reach.
In recent years, he has conducted international tours with the orchestra in 17 countries, including the People’s Republic of China, South Korea, Iran, Algeria, Tunisia, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Romania, Poland, and Belarus.
He has conducted on some of the world’s most prestigious stages, such as: the M. Glinka Chapel Hall (St. Petersburg, Russia); Konzerthaus (Vienna, Austria); Concertgebouw (Amsterdam, Netherlands); Queen Elisabeth Hall (Antwerp, Belgium); Sferisterio Arena (Macerata, Italy); Teatro Carlo Felice (Genoa), Teatro Petruzzelli (Bari), Teatro Ponchielli (Cremona), Teatro Luciano Pavarotti (Modena), Teatro Romano (Ascoli Piceno), and Politeama Garibaldi Theatre (Palermo, Italy); Auditorio Nacional de Música and Teatro Monumental (Madrid, Spain); Gran Teatre del Liceu and Palau de la Música (Barcelona, Spain); Coliseu do Porto, Casa da Música (Porto, Portugal), and Coliseu dos Recreios (Lisbon, Portugal); the Colisée (Nîmes, France), and the Théâtre Antique (Vienne, France); the National Opera and Ballet Theatres in Bucharest and Timișoara (Romania); the National Opera and National Theatre in Algiers and Mufdi Zakaria Palace (Algeria); City Hall (Seoul, South Korea); the El Djem Colosseum, Carthage Amphitheatre, and National Opera (Tunisia); City Hall (Hong Kong, PRC); the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing, PRC); and the National Opera (Dubai, UAE).
Since 1996, Volodymyr Sheiko has also served as a professor at the Department of Opera Studies and Music Directing at the P.I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine.
Awards and Honours: 2005 – Order of St. Volodymyr the Great, 3rd Class, 2005 – Honorary Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2012 – Honorary Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 2012 – Honorary Distinction of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine,2012 – Badge of Honour awarded by the Kyiv City Council, 2013 – Order of Friendship,2020 - Order of Merit, 3rd Class.