The Orchestra was formed by Counsel
of Ministers of Ukraine in 1918. The first conductor of the Orchestra was
Oleksander Horilyi. Nathan Rakhlin had been the Artistic Director of the
Orchestra since 1937 for 25 years. Among its main conductors were Stephan
Turchak, Volodymyr Kozhukhar, Fedir Hluschenko, Igor Blazhkov and Theodore
Kuchar.
Many famous conductors, such as Kurt
Sanderling, Leopold Stokowsky, Igor Markevitch, Kyrylo Kodrashyn, Evgeny
Svetlanov, Kostiantyn Simeonov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky worked with the
Orchestra. Also a lot of soloists cooperated with the Orchestra. Among them
there were Arthur Rubinstein, Isaak Stern, Yehuddy Menukhin, Monserrat Caballe,
Jose Carreras, David Oistrakh, Svyatoslav Rikhter, Emil Gilels, Mstislav
Rostropovich, Leonid Kogan, Gidon Kremer, Oleh Krysa and others.
The Orchestra was trusted with the premier
performances by the following composers: Boris Lyatoshynsky, Levko Revutsky,
Yevgen Stankovych, Myroslav Skoryk, Sergey Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram
Khachaturian.
In the
last few years, the Orchestra has recorded more than 40 CDs. In 1994 the
Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) rated the Orchestra’s recording of Boris
Lyatoshynsky`s Symphonies #2 and #3 as
"The Best Recording of the Year".
The Orchestra consists of 98 musicians. The
repertoire of the Orchestra includes complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms,
Bruckner, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Rakhmaninov, Skriabin, Prokofiev,
Shostakovich, Lyatoshynsky`s, Martinu, symphonic musical compositions from
Baroque period till modern vanguard, accompaniments of instrumental and vocal
musical pieces.
During the years of Ukrainian Independence the
Orchestra was successfully touring in Australia, Austria, Great Britain, Hong
Kong, Spain, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, French, Czech Republic and Switzerland.
Since April 1999 the Chief Conductor of the
Orchestra has been Volodymyr Sirenko, Honored Art Worker of Ukraine, Laureate
of the Taras Shevchenko National Premium of Ukraine.
Volodymyr
Sirenko was born in Poltava region, in November 1, 1960.
From 1980 until 1989 he had studied at the Kyiv
State Conservatory, class of Prof.A.Vlasenko; received diploma of an Opera and
Symphony Conductor.
In 1983 his first appearance took place on the
stage of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. Since 1989 till 1993 Volodymyr
Sirenko had been the Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.
In 1990 he became the finalist of the International Conductors’ Competition in
Prague. Since 1991 till 1999 Volodymyr Sirenko had worked as Artistic Director
and Chief Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the National Radio Company of
Ukraine.
In 1997 he was awarded the title of “The
Honoured Art Worker of Ukraine”.
Since 1999 he has been the Chief Conductor of
the National Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Since 2000 Volodymyr Sirenko
has been the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the National Symphony
Orchestra of Ukraine. Since 1989 till 2000 he has conducted in France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, USA, South Korea, Poland, Slovenia, and Russia.
In 2001 Volodymyr Sirenko became the Laureate
of the National Premium of Taras Shevcheko.
In 2003 he was awarded the title “The Honoured
Art Worker of Russia”.
The conductor has more than 200 works in the
record library of Ukrainian Radio.