Konstantin Mikhailov

b. 1882 (Krolevets) · d. 1961 (Kyiv)

Konstantin Mikhailov (1882–1961) was a Ukrainian Soviet pianist and music teacher. He was born in Krolevets on December 29, 1882, and was the father of the artist Konstantin Mikhailov.

He graduated from the Kyiv Music School in 1907, studying piano with V. V. Pukhalsky, and completed his studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1913 as an external student. From 1907, he taught at the Kyiv Music School. He helped organize the Kyiv Conservatory in 1913 and taught there from its opening in 1917, becoming a professor that year. He served as its director from 1922 to 1926 and held other academic and administrative posts there.

From 1927, Mikhailov was vice-rector of the Mykola Lysenko Music and Drama Institute. He led the piano department from 1932 and was vice-rector of the Kyiv Conservatory during 1934–1941 and 1943–1953. In 1941–1942, he was deputy director of the Tashkent Conservatory and organized an opera studio there, which he directed in 1942. In 1943, he became director of the conservatory in Sverdlovsk.

Mikhailov promoted music education for children: at his initiative, children's departments opened at conservatories in 1920–1922, and a social education department established in 1923 became the basis for a music education faculty. He also helped organize the Kyiv Special Music School in 1934. He received the title Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1945 and wrote articles and reviews. He died on April 3, 1961, in Kyiv.

Organizations