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Honoured Artist of Ukraine,
associate professor |
Born on 19 March 1955 in the village of Nyzhniy Bereziv, Kosiv district, Ivano-Frankivsk region.
1976-1981 – student of the Mykola Lysenko Lviv State Conservatory, speciality ‘Conductor’.
Since 1982, he has been working as a conductor and choirmaster in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Southern Group of Troops (Budapest). Conducting a choir and a pop-symphony orchestra, he achieved the most professional performance of works of various genres and styles.
Since 1986, he has been working as a conductor and choirmaster in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Baltic Military District (Riga). Working with this ensemble, he achieves a highly artistic performance of classical style, folk songs, and romances. He collaborates and conducts concerts with the ensemble’s soloists: Honoured Artist of Latvia Valdis Renemanis and Yevgeny Yuriev. Under the direction of Mykola Skilskyi, high-level concerts were held in Jurmala, Riga, Kaunis, Estonia, and Lithuania.
In September 1988, the ensemble took part in the Music Festival of the Baltic Masters of the Arts, which took place at the Riga Philharmonic. The choir performed works by Giuseppe Verdi, such as the chorus ‘Tisce, tisce’ from the opera ‘Rigoletto’, the Ukrainian folk song ‘Unharness the horses’, conducted by Mykola Skilskyi. The professional choir was highly praised by the famous composer Raymond Pauls.
Since November 1989, he has been working as a choirmaster in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Southern Group of Troops (Budapest). During his work in the ensemble, he made a significant contribution to the development of musical choral culture.
Since 1995, he has been working at the Kolomyia Pedagogical College as a teacher of voice training, conducting, and director of the Orpheus youth vocal ensemble.
He also works part-time at the Circus and Variety School, as well as a lecturer in the analysis of musical forms, vocals and a student choir director at the Kolomyia Pedagogical Institute of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian University. During his work in educational institutions, he trained many laureates: Mykola Hubchuk – soloist of the National Opera of Ukraine, currently Director and Artistic Director of the Oleskandr Kozarenko Kolomyia Philharmonic, concert baritone, Oleksandr Forkushak – winner of the Solomiya Krushelnytska International Opera Competition, Lviv, 2009. Performer of Wagner operas in Salzburg and Erfurt (Germany). Yurii Mykhailiuk – Grand Prix winner of the Chevalier of the Order of the Golden Badge at the International Competition ‘Young Classical Voices’, Yalta, 2009, soloist of the National Bandura Choir, Kyiv, Nazarii Karatnyk – Grand Prix winner at the Bukovyna Lark Festival, Chernivtsi, 2013, Andrii Negrych – Grand Prix winner at the International Competition ‘Source of Hope’, Kyiv, 2013. Kyiv, 2013, Oleksandr Tkachuk – II Prize of the Bukovynian Lark Festival, Chernivtsi, 2013, Daria Kniazeva – winner of the II Mykola Lysenko Prize, Kyiv, II Bul Ogly Prize, Baku, 2012, currently a soloist of the Taras Shevchenko National Opera of Ukraine and the Opera in Erfurt (Germany), Vasyl Mishchenko – semi-finalist of the Voice of the Country project in 2014, Kyiv.
Among Mykola Skilsky’s alumni are Oleksandr Dragan, Director General and Chief Conductor of the Khmelnytsky Regional Philharmonic, currently conductor of the Vienna Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. Olesia Bubela – soloist of the Lviv National Opera named after S. Krushelnytska, Mykola Kuzmych – soloist of the Lviv National Opera named after S. Krushelnytska, Sviatoslav Slobodyan – winner of the Grand Prix of the Student Autumn Pysankova competition-festival in Kolomyia. Kolomyia. 2024.
Mykola Skilskyi himself, in addition to teaching, has a busy concert activity. In December 2011, he organised a concert dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the outstanding composer Giuseppe Verdi, where Mykola Skilskyi’s graduates performed the gems of world classics.
During the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko’s birth, he conducts the choir and symphony orchestra, Kolomyia, 2014. Organises a charity concert in support of the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Kolomyia, 2014.
For his creative activity, he was awarded the Diploma of the Ministry of Education, 2000, the Diploma of the International Television Competition Programme ‘Southern Express’, Crimea, 2008, the Diploma of the International Festival ‘Source of Hope’, 28 September 2013, Kyiv, the Diploma of the competition ‘Bukovyna Lark’, Chernivtsi, 2013. Chernivtsi, 2013, Diploma of the Kolomyia-Chernivtsi Diocese of the UGCC for the development of the national, cultural and artistic heritage of our region, spiritual education of the younger generation, Kolomyia, 2014.
On 9 November 2015, he was awarded the honorary title ‘Honoured Artist of Ukraine’, in 2017 he was awarded the badge ‘Excellence in Education of Ukraine’, in 2020 he was awarded the Vasyl Sukhomlynskyi badge.
Since 2024, he has been working as an associate professor at the Educational and Research Institute of Arts of the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Department of Methods of Music Education and Conducting.
Main scientific publications:
‘The Role of Head and Thoracic Resonators in Sound Production’
‘The structure of the vocal apparatus and the role of its parts in sound formation’
‘Methods of regulating singing exhalation’