Father of the Ukrainian School Of Organ Music

The Peter Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine is planning a number of events in honor of Arseniy Kotliarevsky, the founder of its organ class. The National House of Organ and Chamber Music will be hosting a concert starring his celebrated pupils Iryna Kalinovska, Volodymyr Koshuba, Olha Dmytrenko, and National Music Academy students representing the second generation of organists.

Life is ephemeral, but every one of us leaves some sort of trace: a part of ourselves, our souls, aspirations and ideas. However, only true artists create lasting monuments. The power of their talent, selfless dedication, and love of beauty paves the way to immortality. One of these immortals is Arseniy Kotliarevsky, a distinguished cultural figure of Ukraine, member of the Ukrainian Composers’ Union, music critic, lecturer, and outstanding organist of the second half of the twentieth century.

He was an extraordinary and universal personality. His broad range of professional activities encompassed the history of music, organ and chamber music performance, and the art of chamber music songs. Throughout his life he headed various academic chairs at Ukraine’s leading schools of music.

Arseniy Kotliarevsky was born in Oranienbaum on January 15, 1910. In 1935 he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory, where he majored in musicology. In 1938 he obtained the title of organist from his alma mater. He was a talented musician and arranger of numerous classical compositions and original transcriptions. His solo repertoire was remarkably diverse. Arseniy Kotliarevsky complemented every arrangement with his own annotations, each of which was a brief lecture on the subject. He could captivate an audience with a few words.

In 1969 Arseniy Kotliarevsky arrived in Kyiv at the invitation of the Kyiv Conservatory. Owing to his energy and determination, he succeeded in organizing Ukraine’s first organ class the very next year. Watching his inspired and successful efforts, Ukrainian musicians and critics began paying more attention to the development of organ music in the republic. Organs were installed or restored in the concert halls of many regional philharmonic societies. This was the beginning of a great project aimed at reviving and promoting organ music in Ukraine, and establishing a school of organ music whose founder and teacher was Arseniy Kotliarevsky. He was also instrumental in establishing the House of Organ Music in Kyiv as a separate concert organization, which eventually became the center of Ukrainian organ music.

For many years the Lutheran Cathedral on Chervonoarmiyska St. in Kyiv, designed by architect Horodetsky, served as the city archives. This building was in terrible condition: the faНade of the city’s only gothic structure was slowly falling to pieces. Some local musicians proposed to revamp the premises as a concert hall, but such ideas could not take hold under the Soviet regime. Arseniy Kotliarevsky had to surmount a great many bureaucratic and ideological obstacles before his cherished dream came true. Convincing the bureaucrats who were in charge of culture took real diplomatic talent. Finally, the Republican House of Organ and Chamber Music opened in Kyiv in 1981; today it is known as the National House of Organ and Chamber Music of Ukraine. That same year Prof. Kotliarevsky resigned from his teaching post in the conservatory and became the artistic director of the concert hall. Under his guidance it became the center of Ukrainian organ music. At present, this hall is the venue for concerts featuring musicians from Ukraine and abroad, as well as festivals and recording sessions.