Dmytro Smolych

Dmytro Mykolayovych Smolych was a Soviet and Ukrainian theatre director.

Early years

Smolych was born in Petrograd, in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. He was the son of the theatre director Mykola Smolych. In 1941, he graduated from the K. Stanislavsky Opera and Drama Studio in Moscow.

Career and notable productions

From 19411955, he directed the National Opera of Ukraine. He directed the Chelyabinsk Opera and Ballet Theatre from 19551958, when he became the chief director of the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 1962 he became art director of the Minsk Theatre, a post he held for seven years. In 1969 he became chief director at the Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet, holding the post for a year. From 1970 he was the chief director of the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Smolych's notable productions of operas include Taras Bulba by M. Lysenko, Yaroslav the Wise by H. Maiboroda, Macbeth by J. Verdi, Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky, Prince Igor by O. Borodin, The Queen of Spades by P. Tchaikovsky, In the Storm by T. Hryennikov, Absalom and Eteri by Paliashvili, and Huguenots by J. Meyerber, as well as Carmen by Georges Bizet, Halka by Stanisław Moniuszko, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and Nazar Stodoly by Kostiantyn Dankevych, The Young Guard by Yuliy Meitus, by, and Don Carlos by Verdi.

Later life

Smolych spent much of his later life in Kyiv, and there is a bronze memorial plaque dedicated to him at 39 Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Street, where he lived and worked from 1971 to 1987. He died in Kyiv on April 28, 1987. He is buried next to his father in Baikove Cemetery.

Honours

He was an Honoured Artist of the Georgian SSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR. People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR,, Laureate of the Taras Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR, and People's Artist of the USSR.