Born in Zboriv (Ukraine), he graduated in orchestral conducting in 1999 at the Lyssenko Musical Academy of Lviv (Ukraine), under the guidance of Yuriy Lutsiv. He then specialized at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw with Jacek Kaspszyk and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Gianluigi Gelmetti, in Pesaro with Alberto Zedda. He was awarded a special prize at the Turchak National Competition in Kiev.
Since 1996, he has been resident conductor at the Krushelnytska National Opera in Lviv, where he made his debut in several operas, such as: Aida, Nabucco, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Otello, La Bohème, Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Cavalleria rusticana, I Pagliacci, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Der Zigeunerbaron, Die Lustige Witwe and several operas from the Russian repertoire. Among ballets he led: The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, La Bayadère and Coppélia.
He was invited to the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca for Marchetti's Romeo e Giulietta and numerous symphonic concerts. After his debut on the podium of the Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake in 2005, he returned to Rome in Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. In Rome, he also conducted Falstaff for the opening night of the 2010/11 season. His numerous collaborations include: La fille du regiment at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago (Chile) and in San Francisco, Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Il viaggio a Reims at the Opéra de Montecarlo, La forza del destino and Boris Godunov at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Bruxelles, The Pique Dame at the Theater St. Gallen, I Puritani at the Greek National Opera in Athens, Maria Stuarda at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Rigoletto in Santiago, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Stuttgart, Eugene Onegin in Düsseldorf, Roberto Devereux in Mannheim, La Bohème in Liège, Anna Bolena in Barcelona, Eugene Onegin and Roberto Devereux in Warsaw and I Pagliacci in Moldova.
Mr. Yurkevych enjoys a continuous and successful collaboration with the world famous soprano Edita Gruberova, conducting: Norma in Berlin, Mannheim and Duisburg, Lucrezia Borgia at the Klangvokal Musikfestival in Dortmund, Dresden and Cologne; and several concerts in Munich (Herkulessaal), Vienna and Frankfurt.
Mr. Yurkevych has recently conducted: Norma in Paris (Salle Pleyel), Nice and Cologne; Swan Lake and Anna Bolena at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Norma in Palermo; Eugene Onegin in Gdansk; The Pique Dame in Warsaw; Roberto Devereux in Zürich and Madrid; The Wizard of Oz in Florence; Aida in Riga; La Traviata and Macbeth in Gdańsk; Lucrezia Borgia in Berlin; Der Fliegende Hollaender, Rigoletto and Madame Butterfly in Warsaw; Anna Bolena in Budapest and Kosice; Norma in Vienna (Staatsoper); The Pique Dame in Chisinau; Roberto Devereux in Zurich; symphonic concerts at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and in Milan with the I Pomeriggi Musicali Orchestra.
Active also on the concert side, Andriy Yurkevych has a wide symphonic repertoire, particularly focused on composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rimskij-Korsakov, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich. His upcoming projects include: Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereux in Vienna (Staatsoper); Turandot in Santiago de Chile; Lucia di Lammermoor in Budapest; Roberto Devereux in Madrid; Nabucco, Eugene Onegin, Maria Stuarda (new production), Madame Butterfly and Guillaume Tell (new production) in Warsaw; Norma in Tokyo; concerts with the Münchner Symphoniker in Munich. Andriy Yurkevych was General Music Conductor at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Moldova in Chisinau.
As of the 2014/15 season, he is Music Director of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera.
photo: Sergiu Birca
