Renowned conductor Yurii Kerpatenko killed by Russians
Mykhailo Zahorodnii, staff writer at UP.Zyttia
Yurii Kerpatenko, principal conductor at the Kherson Music and Drama Theatre, has been killed by Russian occupiers in Kherson.
His death was announced on 14 October, said the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.
The ministry said Yurii Kerpatenko had been shot dead by the Russian military in his own home after he refused to cooperate with the invaders.
Journalist Olena Vanina was the first to report the conductor’s murder. She noted that it is now difficult to find out any details of the murder.
Yurii Kerpatenko
"Today it became known that the conductor of the Kherson Philharmonic has been shot by the occupiers. He had refused to cooperate with them, and they said they would be back. They showed up at his house and shot him right there", Vanina wrote on Facebook.
Vanina also noted that Kerpatenko had stopped contact with colleagues back in September.
The Ministry of Culture, citing regional media, said the invaders and collaborators had planned to organise a "gala concert" featuring the famous Hilea Chamber Orchestra on International Music Day, 1 October.
The occupiers wanted to use this concert to show that "peaceful life" had supposedly been established in Kherson.
Yurii Kerpatenko had been working at the Kherson Oblast Philharmonic since 2000, and he became principal conductor at the Mykola Kulish Music and Drama Theatre in Kherson in 2004.
Kerpatenko was also the principal conductor of the Hilea Chamber Orchestra.
Yurii refused to leave Kherson after the beginning of the full-scale war and the occupation of the city and was open about his pro-Ukrainian stance.
Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
