“I don’t play for the Russians”: who is Yuryi Kerpatenko, the famous conductor shot in his home in Kherson

Leaving Kherson under the occupation of the Russian army for Philharmonic director Yuryi Kerpatenko was never an option: staying in his place, loyal to Ukraine, was the act of resistance until his last day of life. . Moscow and the pro-Russians had been keeping an eye on him for months, but the last slap did not want to digest it.
The refusal to perform at the October 1st concert, organized by the occupation forces to show the ‘restoration of a peaceful life’ after the annexation to the Federation following the referendums at the end of September, was fatal to the famous director of the Music and Drama Theater, Mykola Kulish. . The Ministry of Culture of Kiev has indeed known that the Russian army killed him by cold shooting him in his home. “The brutal murder of the director of the Kherson Music and Drama Theater has been heard. After Kerpatenko refused to cooperate with the occupiers, the Russian army shot him down in the same house as him. We express our deepest condolences to Yuryi’s relatives and colleagues. Eternal memory, ”wrote the ministry. Ukrainian journalist Olena Vanina, who often spoke on the phone with Kerpatenko, stressed on Facebook that at the moment “the details of the murder are difficult to discover”. “We learned that the conductor of the Kherson Philharmonic was killed by the occupiers. He refused to work with them, they went to his house and shot him right there. He had stopped contacting me since September, ”she said. Kerpatenko – according to the Ukrainian media – was not afraid to say how he thought.
From the earliest days of the Russian occupation it has openly shown its position. And, luckily, his life has been lost just now that hope for Kherson seems to have reopened the door. Just yesterday, the Financial Times reported that Western intelligence and military officials “estimate that Ukraine could take back the city as early as next week”. As indeed the appeal launched by the pro-Russians in Moscow – fully accepted – to evacuate the (pro-Moscow) civilians and escape from the Ukrainian units that began to break through the Russian front lines in Kherson at the beginning of the month would suggest. Yuryi Kerpatenko had risen to the podium as conductor in the Regional Philharmonic in 2000. Then, after four years, he became the first director of the Music and Drama Theater. Should Kiev actually free Kherson, it will be up to another to conduct the victory concert. And it’s safe to bet dedicating the first notes to Yuryi.