Mykhailo Zahorodnii editor at UP.Zyttia

Yurii Kerpatenko, chief conductor of the Kherson Musical and Dramatic Theater, was killed by Russian occupiers in Kherson.

His death was announced on October 14, said the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.

The ministry said Yurii Kerpatenko was shot by the Russian military in his own home after refusing 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 details of the murder.

Yuri Kerpatenko

“Today it became known that the conductor of the Kherson Philharmonic Orchestra was shot dead by the occupiers. He refused to cooperate with them, and they said they would return. him and shot him right there. “, Vanina wrote: on Facebook.

Vanina also noted that Kerpatenko ceased contact with his colleagues in September.

The Ministry of Culture, citing regional media, said the invaders and their collaborators had planned to hold a “gala concert” featuring the famous Hilea Chamber Orchestra on International Music Day, October 1. .

The occupiers wanted to take advantage of this concert to show that a “peaceful life” had supposedly established itself in Kherson.

Yurii Kerpatenko had worked at the Kherson Oblast Philharmonic since 2000, and he became a principal conductor at Mykola Kulish Music and Drama Theater in Kherson in 2004.

Kerpatenko was also the principal conductor of the Hilea Chamber Orchestra.

Yurii refused to leave Kherson after the full-scale war began and the city was occupied and was open about his pro-Ukrainian stance.

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