Evgeny Borisovich Sheyko (; 10 March 1962 – 19 November 2020) was a Russian conductor. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with Gennady Rozhdestvensky, he served as chief conductor of the Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre and led the student symphony orchestra of the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory from 1995 until his death.

Early life and education

Sheyko was born in 1962 in Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod. In 1988 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied opera and symphonic conducting with Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The Moscow Conservatory also lists Sheyko among Rozhdestvensky's conducting students.

Career

After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory in 1988, Sheyko joined the Gorky Opera and Ballet Theatre, now the Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. He became chief conductor in 1992 and remained in the post for about twenty years. During this period he conducted more than twenty new opera and ballet productions, among them The Tsar's Bride, Mazeppa, La bohème, Carmen, The Queen of Spades and Otello.

Sheyko also taught at the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory from 1989 to 2013 and directed its student symphony orchestra from 1995 to 2013. His work outside Nizhny Novgorod included guest appearances with Russian orchestras and opera companies and foreign tours. In 2012, for example, he conducted the Nizhny Novgorod Opera orchestra and chorus at the Teatro Cervantes in Málaga in a programme including Mozart's Requiem.

After leaving Nizhny Novgorod, Sheyko was chief conductor of the Buryat State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in 2013–2014 and of the Ryazan Musical Theatre in 2015–2016. He later worked at the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Sakha Republic, first as a guest conductor and, from 2019, as chief conductor.

Conducting 1988–1992 – Conductor of Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre 1993–1995 – General artistic director and conductor of Nizhny Novgorod Chamber Orchestra 1995–2020 – General artistic director and conductor of Students Symphonic Orchestra of Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory 2001–2010 – Guest Conductor of opera and ballet festivals in Russian cities: Perm, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Cheboksary, Saratov 2004 – Guest Conductor of Ukraine State Symphonic Orchestra in Daegu (Republic of Korea)

Concert tours

-with opera and ballet troupe of Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre 1989 – Smolensk, Petrozavodsk (Russia) 1990 – Arkhangelsk, Murmansk (Russia) 1991 – Kyiv (Ukraine)

-with opera troupe of Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre 1993 – Fort-de-France (France) 2006 – Cheboksary (Russia) 2008 – Kostroma (Russia)

-with orchestra, chorus, soloists of Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (symphonic programs) 2008 – Sarov (Russia) 2012 – Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, Vigo (Spain), Lisbon, Porto (Portugal), Helsinki, Turku, Pori (Finland), Oslo, Stavanger (Norway), Stockholm (Sweden)

Repertoire

-symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (all symphonies), Schubert, Brahms (all symphonies), Dvořák, Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius, Honegger, Balakirev, Tchaikovsky (all symphonies), Rachmaninoff (all symphonies), Prokofiev, Shostakovich etc. -symphonic compositions of Liszt, Wagner, R. Strauss, Grieg, Debussy, Dukas, Ravel, Bartók, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky, Scriabin etc. -instrumental concerts of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Dvořák, Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich etc. -compositions for soloists, chorus and orchestra: Requiem by Mozart, Requiem by Verdi, "The Damnation of Faust" by Berlioz, "The Bells" by Rachmaninoff, "Alexander Nevsky" by Prokofiev, "Carmina Burana" by Orff etc.

Performance in Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre 1989 – “The Soldier's Tale” by Stravinsky 1990 – “The Tsar's Bride” by Rimsky-Korsakov 1991 – “Mazeppa” by Tchaikovsky 1994 – “The Gypsy Baron” by J. Strauss 1996 – “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Offenbach 1998 – “Aleko” by Rachmaninoff 2000 – “Ruslan and Ludmila” by Glinka 2001 – “La bohème” by Puccini 2002 – “The Bat“ by J. Strauss 2004 – “Carmen” by Bizet 2004 – “The Human Voice” by Poulenc 2004 – “Un ballo in maschera” by Verdi in Gwangju (Republic of Korea) 2004 – “Turandot” by Puccini in Incheon (Republic of Korea) 2006 – “Ivan Susanin” (“A Life for the Tsar”) by Glinka 2007 – “The Queen of Spades” by Tchaikovsky 2008 – “Cio-Cio San” by Puccini 2010 – “Otello“ by Verdi 2011 – “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky

Repertoire includes more than 50 operas and ballets.

References

External links

E. Sheyko at Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory (Rus)

Concert tour in Malaga (Spain) Concert tour in Oslo (Norw) Rhapsody "Porgy and Bess" for Piano and Orchestra