Yuriy Shutko was born on 15 July 1968 in Poprad, Slovakia to the family of musicians. He received musical education at the S. Krushelnytska Lviv Secondary Specialized School of Music, which he graduated from in 1986 with the specialty in flute taught by pedagogue ?. Levkovych. The same year, Yuriy entered the Lithuanian State Conservatory in Vilnius and went to the class taught by Professor Algirdas Vizgirda. Since 1989 he studied at Kyiv State Conservatory in classes taught by Professors Oleh Kudryashov and Volodymyr Antonov. In 1993, he was accepted to the assistantship at the P.I. Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music of Ukraine (artistic supervisor Professor Volodymyr Antonov) which he graduated from in 1996. The same year he practiced upon the UNESCO program at the International University of Musical Arts in France under the following Professors: Lidia Oshavkova (flute), Pierre Pierlot (traditional music), Ljerko Spiller (chamber ensemble), Miguel Estrella (theory of music). During the years of study he attended the courses of highest performance skills taught by world-renowned flutists Andras Adorjan (Germany), Aurele Nicolet (Switzerland), Samuel Saulus (Estonia), Yuriy Dolzhikov (Moscow), Gleb Nikitin (St. Petersburg).
When he was still studying, Yuriy Shutko became laureate of I International Chamber Music Contest Golden Autumn in 1993 (1st Prize), VI Pierre Lantier International Performers Contest in Paris in 1994 (Grand Prix), IV International Contest of the World Association of Wind Music WASBE in 1997 (1st Prize). Later on, he became member of the jury of I and II D. Bida International Contests of Performers on Wooden Wind Instruments (1996 and 2000), VI and VIII Y. Koka International Performance Contests (2000 and 2002), II, III, and IV International Performance Contests Silvery Peals (2001, 2002, and 2003), II Junior Delphic Games of the CIS Countries (2004). He was participant and honorary guest of more than thirty international music festivals. As a soloist, Yuriy works with all leading orchestras in Ukraine. He performed together with world-famous conductors: Saulus Sondeckis (Lithuania), Urs Schnaider and Simon Camartin (Switzerland), Stanislaw Winjarczyk (Poland), Heinz Prammer (Austria), Mikhail Arkadiev (Russia); with coryphaeuses of Ukrainian school of conducting Mykola Kolessa, Yuriy Lutsiv, Myroslav Skoryk, Roman Kofman; with renowned Ukrainian conductors V. Blinov, M. Dyadyura, V. Sirenko, ?. Palkin, and others. He played in ensembles with violinist Bohodar Kotorovych (Ukraine) and piano player Mykola Suk (USA).
The artist made numerous records on TV and for the Fund of Ukrainian Radio. He was the first performer of many works for flute written specially for him by both foreign and Ukrainian composers.
Yuriy Shutko’s repertoire includes works of all styles and genres for solo flute and flute accompanied by piano or orchestra, created by world composers during last three hundred years. He himself made many transcriptions of the popular music.
Beginning from 1993 Yuriy Shutko is a soloist of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. Since 1995, he combines his intensive concert activity with the teaching, first as an associate professor at the sub-faculty of orchestral conducting and traditional and chamber music of Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, and then at R.M. Glier Kyiv State Higher Music College and Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts where he leads special flute classes and conducts personally devised courses on the Method of Teaching How To Play Wooden Wind Instruments, Methodological and Performance Analysis of Pedagogical Repertoire, and Performance Style Analysis. Since 2005, he is an associate professor at the sub-faculty of artistic technologies of the State Academy of Administrative Staff of the Culture and Arts where he teaches the play on wind instruments and reads a course of lectures to musicology experts. Since the same year he teaches at the sub-faculty of instrumental and orchestral performance of the Institute of Arts of the M.P. Dragomanov National Pedagogical University.
During his pedagogical work Yuriy prepared a number of laureates of professional international contests. His students represented Ukraine with dignity in many countries of the world, played with Virtuosos of Moscow orchestra lead by V. Spivakov in Kyiv and in Kremlin Palace in Moscow. Many times pedagogical work of Yuri Shutko was rewarded by gratitude, certificates of merit and diplomas of various levels. He was conferred qualification category of the Specialist of Supreme Category.
In 1998 Yuriy Shutko was conferred honorary title of the Honored Artist of Ukraine for the significant personal contribution in the development of culture and arts in Ukraine and substantial creative achievements, and in 2000, he received Gratitude of the Kyiv Mayor for the creation of cultural values and achievement of highest skills in his professional activity. In 2001, Yuriy Shutko received Gratitude of Zakarpattia Oblast Council for the fruitful creative and scientific pedagogical work, and the same year, he was nominated for the Taras Shevchenko National Award of Ukraine for his concert performance.
Since 1999, Yuriy Shutko plays the only golden flute in Ukraine manufactured by Japanese company SANKYO which specializes in concert instruments for solo performances of world-renowned flute musicians. The performer’s two solo albums were released in 2005: The Golden Flute of Ukraine and The Prayer to Orpheus, which were praised by specialists and the press.
Critics note inspired performance of masterly flute repertoire, unsurpassed skills and performance philosophy of Yuriy Shutko’s play. A flute in his hands has the same effect on the audience as a voice, violin, or piano. His performance style is bright, masterly, rich in nuances and the most different colors, and makes charming impression. At the same time, Yuriy Shutko’s play impresses with the refinement of details, richness of sound palette, and a special feeling of style and form.
Yuriy Shutko is constant guest of art programs on the Ukrainian radio and TV. He is also the author of critical and polemical essays in the Ukrainian press (Day, Literary Ukraine, Word of Enlightenment, and Ukrainian Leader newspapers and Ukrainian Culture magazine).
