Ukraine has lost a new conductor in the fighting in Donbass.
Enlisted in the infantry the day after the Russian invasion of February 2022, Kostiantyn Starovytskyi was killed on April 5 during an operation in the Kramatorsk region, announced the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture.
Born in Brovary, in the eastern suburbs of kyiv, the musician first fought in his hometown, during Russia's aborted campaign around the Ukrainian capital.
Before being sent to the heart of Donbass, he had also been stationed in the Kharkiv region.
The family, relatives and brothers in arms of Kostiantyn Starovytskyi said farewell to the conductor, presented in an open coffin during a public funeral which took place on Tuesday.
Married, he had a daughter.
"He was a very sensitive person, he never sought a quarrel with anyone
," testified for the Reuters press agency Yevhen Hryma, a former classmate of the conductor present in his procession. funeral.
Read alsoA Shostakovich score found
A bassoon player by training, Kostiantyn Starovytskyi had conducted several operas in Kiev, including
Rita or the Beaten Husband
by Gaetano Donizetti.
A graduate of the Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in kyiv, a specialist in Rossini, the musician had also been invited to the Berlin Opera Academy in 2021, as assistant conductor.
"I am devastated
," said a colleague of the maestro on Tuesday.
His plans, projects and ideas will forever remain unfinished
.
Last October, another Ukrainian conductor - Yuriy Kerpatenko - was found dead at his home in Kherson.
Fiercely opposed to the Russian invasion, he was allegedly assassinated after refusing to participate, with his orchestra, in a concert organized by the ephemeral pro-Russian management of the Kherson Philharmonic.