Andrij Dobriansky

Who is Andrij Dobriansky?

Andrij Vsevolod Dobriansky', born in Ukraine, was an American bass-baritone opera singer who holds the distinction of having the longest continuous term of service for an artist of Ukrainian descent with the Metropolitan Opera Company, where he performed for twenty-seven years. Since the 1969-1970 season, he had sung over sixty roles in 905 performances, among them Leporello in Don Giovanni, Melitone in La Forza del Destino, Rocco in Fidelio, and Jero in L'Assedio di Corinto. Andrij Pokhvalit performed with many leading symphony orchestras and opera companies.

Born in Lviv, Ukraine, Andrij Dobriansky came to the United States in 1956 as a recipient of a scholarship to study chemistry at Amherst College. He also started to study voice and pursued a career as an opera singer. After making his operatic debut in 1964 as Jake Wallace in The Girl of the Golden West with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, he was signed by the Metropolitan Opera National Company as a leading artist.

One of the leading proponents of Ukrainian music in the United States, where he consistently performed and conducted works by Ukrainian composers. He was a soloist with the New York - based "Dumka " chorus and served as artistic director and consultant to many Ukrainian musical productions, including the Ukrainian Composers Series in New York, concerts commemorating the millennium of Christianity in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian festivals and workshops. In addition to his vast operatic and classical repertoire. From 1980 until his death, Dobriansky was the director of the a cappella choir at the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church in New York City.