Kipa, Wadym

Composer and pianist Wadym Kipa (b. 1912, Kuchmisterska Slobodka, Ukraine, d. 1968, New York, USA) was born into the family of a railway inspector, who encouraged his son’s interest in music. Kipa trained at the Kharkiv Music School, Kharkiv Conservatory and Kyiv Conservatory, from which he graduated as a piano major in 1937 and joined its faculty. Until 1941 he performed as a concert pianist. When the Second World War interrupted his post-doctoral studies at the Kyiv Conservatory, he turned to composing. During the war he found himself in Berlin, where he taught at the Klindwort-Scharwenk Conservatory. In 1951 he settled in New York, where he engaged in composing and teaching. His compositions in a Neo-Romantic style consist primarily of solo piano pieces, art songs and incidental music.