Turning the pages back...

May 4, 1883

Mykola Malko a conductor of international renown, was born on May 4, 1883, in Brailiv, near Vinnytsia. He studied under the composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Aleksandr Glazunov in St. Petersburg, then under Mykola Lysenko in Kyiv, and finally under Felix Mottl in Munich, before returning to the Russian capital to assume a position at the St. Petersburg Opera (1909-1918).

In 1921-1924, Malko shuttled between Vitsebsk, Moscow, Kyiv and Kharkiv, and then accepted a teaching post at the Leningrad Conservatory and conducted the city's philharmonic orchestra. In 1926 and 1927, he conducted the world premieres of the young Dmitri Shostakovich's first two symphonies.

From 1928, the maestro toured Western Europe to great critical acclaim, and in 1930 he emigrated permanently to the West, initially settling in Copenhagen. Malko founded the Danish National Orchestra during his sojourn there.

In 1940, he moved to the U.S. to teach conducting at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., and then conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Other major ensembles he headed included the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra in England (1954-1956) and the Sydney Orchestra in Australia (1956-1961).

Malko's interpretations of Tchaikovsky's and Prokofiev's works were highly regarded for their clarity and balance, and he recorded widely with the London Symphony Orchestra. He also conducted the Western premiere of the "Galician Dances" from Borys Liatoshynsky's opera "The Golden Ring." In 1950 Malko published a methodological study, "The Conductor and His Baton."

Malko died in Sydney on June 23, 1961. His memoirs, "A Certain Age," in which he describes his famous mentors, appeared posthumously in 1966.

Source: "Malko, Mykola," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 3 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993).

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 4, 1997, No. 18, Vol. LXV

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