Soviet and Ukrainian singer, People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR Nina Matvienko, died at age 75, as reported by her daughter Antonina on her Instagram page. The post notes the Instagram account is associated with Meta, a company whose founder is labeled an extremist and banned in Russia.
“My mother has passed away,” wrote the singer’s daughter.
The cause of death was not disclosed. Antonina added in her Instagram story that the farewell for Nina Matvienko would take place on October 11 at 11:00 in the Ukrainian National Philharmonic Orchestra building.
Refusing help from doctors
Ukrainian singer Natalya Mogilevskaya wrote on social networks that Matvienko declined medical assistance shortly before her death:
“I felt something serious was approaching. Help from doctors was offered, but Nina Mitrofanovna refused. I want to thank you for a layer of Ukrainian culture. Through your talent, sensitivity, and femininity, you brought a beautiful and gentle face to Ukraine with your songs.”
Vitalina, daughter of Ukraine’s third President Viktor Yushchenko, shared a photo with Matvienko.
“What a great loss, what sadness and sorrow. Nina Matvienko, the flower of the Ukrainian nation, the soul of the Ukrainian song has flown away. Eternal memory and the kingdom of heaven. I offer my condolences to her family and friends,” he said on social networks.
Ukrainian artist Monatik described Matvienko as incredibly humane, sincere, unique, and a true legend.
“With her you could always laugh about everything and miss everything. I will carry her advice and thoughts with me for life. The legend of the Ukrainian stage has passed away. She was a big-hearted person whose songs overflowed,” he wrote on his Instagram account.
With a song for life
Matvienko passed away two days before her 76th birthday. The artist was born on October 10, 1947, in the Zhytomyr region of the Ukrainian SSR. She worked in the vocal studio of the Ukrainian Academic Folk Choir named after Grigori Verevka and began her musical career in 1968 as the soloist of this group. Since 1991 she served as the soloist of the National Soloist Ensemble “Kiev Camerata.”
Matvienko won many singing competitions. In 1978 she became a laureate of the All-Ukrainian “Young Voices” competition, in 1979 she won the All-Union television competition “With a Song for Life,” and in the same year she achieved the highest score at the World Folk Song competition. She secured victories in Bratislava and in 1985 at the XII Competition in Moscow. She also earned recognition at the World Youth Festival among her students and received the Ukrainian SSR State Prize in 1988, and the Shevchenko prize legacy followed.
Matvienko was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1979, at age 32. Six years later, in 1985, she was named People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. In 2006, President Viktor Yushchenko, who led Ukraine from 2005 to 2010, awarded her the title Hero of Ukraine.
Her repertoire spanned ritual, lyrical, humorous, and ballad songs, including many folk pieces from the 17th–18th centuries. Among her most famous works are “Oh, Wild Geese Are Flying,” “Lullaby,” “Kvitka-Soul,” “Skripal,” and “The Power of Birds.”
Roles on the big screen
Matvienko appeared in numerous television productions such as “Marusya Churai,” “Ekaterina Bilokur,” and “Waters poured into four shallows.”
She also acted in feature films, with roles in “Not even a year will pass…,” “Farewell Pharaohs!,” “Lost Letters,” and “Straw Bells.” She played Valya in the movie “How the Steel Was Tempered.” Matvienko was a member of the Ukrainian Union of Cinematographers.
Euromaidan participant
Following Ukraine’s 2014 upheaval, she criticized Euromaidan and voiced strong opposition to its leaders. In a video released by the Ukrainian Internet TV channel SK1, Matvienko said that the change of power was driven by personal interests of certain politicians and oligarchs. At that time, Viktor Yanukovych was the President of Ukraine.
In 2014 Matvienko actively participated in Maidan Nezalezhnosti events in Kyiv and spoke against President Yanukovych.