I was born in 1964 in the city of Sarny (Rivne oblast) into a large family. My father worked as an engineer, even though he completed only mining college. My mother was a projectionist at a film library that supplied educational films to the city’s schools. I graduated from a music school in the city of Rivne. I began working as a musician in the philharmonic while I was still studying. I devoted two years of my life to the Soviet army, where at first I was a communication specialist and later a musician in the army orchestra.

The year after completing my military service I got married and began studying at the Rivne Institute of Culture, from which I graduated with a degree in conducting. That same year, 1988, my wife and I moved to Volodymyr-Volynsky, where she was sent to teach music at one of the city schools, and I began teaching at a music school. My two children, who are now 27 and 19, were born here.

I was always aware that I was a Jew because, after arriving in Volodymyr-Volynsky, I was interested in everything that was connected with the history of the Jews of this city. It so happened that, apart from me, no one was occupied with the question of preserving the memory of the Jewish community. The place where Jews were shot in the village of Piatydni was gradually turning into a garbage dump, and somebody had to put a stop to this. Initially, I tended to the Jewish graves in Piatydni, and later I began writing articles for the press, organizing information events for the residents of Volodymyr-Volynsky, and collecting information about the city’s Jewish community and its fate. Eventually I began writing a book about this. I realized that a book was the best way to preserve the memory of the tragedy that befell the city’s Jewish inhabitants and to express my reservations about the future. This book has been a big part of my life. Now that it has been completed, I hope I have not lived in vain.

Volodymyr Muzychenko writes about his music
Volodymyr composed the music playing in the background of this website.
I am a lyrical composer. My music is a reflection of my mood and my observations of the surrounding world. Spiritual states like pensiveness, nostalgia, love, and despair are inherent in me, as in every person. Through the prism of my mind I also view the world that is reflected in music, and music, as we all know, is the mirror to the soul.