Kondratiuk, Nikolai

Born May 5, 1931, in Starokonstantinov, Khmel’nitskii Oblast. Soviet Ukrainian baritone and pedagogue; figure in the music world; public figure. People’s Artist of the USSR (1978). Member of the CPSU since 1961.

In 1958, Kondratiuk graduated from the Kiev Conservatory, where he had studied voice under A. A. Grodzinskii. He became a soloist with the G. G. Verevka Ukrainian People’s Chorus in 1957 and was a soloist with the Ukrainian Theater of Opera and Ballet from 1959 to 1966. In 1966 he became a soloist with Ukrkontsert and the Kiev Philharmonic Society. He received additional training in Italy in 1962 and 1963 at La Scala in Milan.

Kondratiuk’s roles have included the title role in Borodin’s Prince Igor, Ostap in Lysenko’s Taras Bulba, Maksim in G. Maiboroda’s Arsenal, Figaro in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and Count di Luna and Germont in Verdi’s If Trovatore and La Traviata, respectively. Kondratiuk is also known as a performer of chamber works. Since 1968 he has taught at the Kiev Conservatory, where he was made a docent in 1976; he became head of the subdepartment of opera training in 1972 and rector in 1974.

Kondratiuk was a deputy to the ninth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. He received first prize at the Seventh World Festival of Youth and Students in Vienna in 1959. He has performed abroad.

Kondratiuk received the Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR in 1972 and has been awarded two orders and various medals.