Leonid Hrabovsky


Leonid Oleksandrovych Hrabovsky is a contemporary Ukrainian composer, now living in the United States.

Biography

Leonid studied economics at Kiev University, and from 1954 composition under Boris Lyatoshynsky and Lev Revutsky at Kiev Conservatory which he graduated in 1959. His diploma work "Four Ukrainian Songs" for chorus and orchestra which won first prize in an all-union competition. Shostakovich wrote about this: 'the Ukrainian Songs by Hrabovsky pleased me immensely—his arrangements attracted me by the freedom of treatment and good choral writing'.
In the early 1960s Hrabovsky taught theory and composition at the Kiev Conservatory. He belonged to group of the so-called Kiev avant-garde. Leonid was active as a composer, editor, and translator. He was one of the first Soviet composers to adopt minimalism. His works include Dramatic, Orchestral, Chamber, Vocal Music and music for solo instruments. Hrabovsky’s works show Asian influences.
In 1981 he moved to Moscow. In 1987 he worked as an editor for "Sovetskaya muzika" magazine. In 1990 he moved to the USA at the invitation of the Ukrainian Music Society. He settled in Brooklyn. Since 1990 to 1994 he was composer-in-residence at the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Works

Operas