Yurii Leonidovych Kerpatenko (; 9 September 1976 – 28 September 2022
Life
Kerpatenko was born 9 September 1976 in
Kherson.
He graduated in the
accordion class from State Secondary School No. 1 in 1991 under teacher A.V. Kostrub.
Kerpatenko attended the from 1991 until his graduation in 1995 where he studied under V.I. Melnichenko.
He graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory in 2000 where he studied in the department of folk instruments and was part of the accordion class.
He was considered a virtuoso player of the Bayan.
In 2004, Kerpatenko also graduated with distinction from the department of opera and symphonic conducting under professor V.B. Hnyedash and instrumental science and orchestration under professor
Lev Kolodub.
He became the principal conductor of the Kherson Regional Philharmonic's chamber orchestra, "Gilea" in 2000.
Death
In September 2022, family members of Kerpatenko outside of Kherson lost contact with him.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy reported that he had declined to participate in an upcoming October 1 concert hosted by the Russian occupiers.
The Russian administration planned to feature Kerpatenko's Gileya chamber orchestra in a concert "intended by the occupiers to demonstrate the so-called 'improvement of peaceful life' in Kherson".
Later, the Ukrainian ministry claimed that he was shot dead in his home by the
Russian military due to refusing to cooperate with them during their occupation of Kherson Oblast.
His death was reported on 13 October 2022.
Reactions
Ukraine's Kherson regional prosecutor's office is investigating his death "on the basis of violations of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder."
Musicians
Dalia Stasevska, Semyon Bychkov,
Vlad,
and Roger O'Donnell
and writer
Andrey Kurkov responded to the news of his death on social media.
See also
