Vitaly Kutsenko is a Ukrainian conductor, born on 26 June 1939 in Martove, in the Kharkiv region. He studied conducting in Leningrad with N. S. Rabinovich and I. E. Sherman, then completed postgraduate studies at Kazan Conservatory with N. G. Rakhlin.
In 1977, Kutsenko became chief conductor of the M. Jalil State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. In 1982, he and theater director Raufal Mukhametzyanov founded the International Shalyapin Opera Festival. That year, Kutsenko also became chief conductor of the Tomsk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. From 1986, he was chief conductor and artistic director of the Kharkiv Regional Philharmonic; from 1997, he served as chief conductor of the N. V. Lysenko Kharkiv Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. He was a regular conductor at international competitions named for Mykola Lysenko, Vladimir Horowitz, and Vladimir Krainev.
Kutsenko led concerts including a Beethoven cycle in Tomsk and the first performance in the Soviet Union of William Walton’s Viola Concerto, with Yuri Bashmet as soloist. In 1986, he conducted the first Kharkiv performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, with poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko participating. His Kharkiv opera productions included Leonid Kolodub’s The Poet, Verdi’s Nabucco, and Puccini’s Turandot and La bohème. He also conducted orchestras in Germany, Romania, the United States, and Ukraine, and toured in several European countries.
From 2010 to 2011, Kutsenko was a guest conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and chaired the State Examination Commission at the I. P. Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts. Through 2013, he served as acting professor in its departments of opera training and opera-symphonic conducting. He has written scholarly works on conducting and vocal art. His honors include the 1973 State Prize of the Mari ASSR, the title of Honored Artist of the Mari ASSR in 1974, and the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine in 2005.