Vitaly Serhiyovych Gubarenko (June 13, 1934, Kharkiv - May 5, 2000, Kyiv) was a Ukrainian composer, a member of the Union of Composers of Ukraine. Husband of Maryna Cherkashina-Gubarenko, father of poet and composer Iryna Gubarenko.

He was born on June 13, 1934 in Kharkiv. In 1960, he graduated from the Kharkiv Conservatory in the composition class of D. Klebanov. In 1958–1960, he was a teacher of theoretical subjects and musical literature in a children's music school. Since 1960, the music editor of the regional radio. In 1961–1972, he was a teacher of music theory and composition at the Kharkiv Institute of Arts, and from 1962 simultaneously at the Kharkiv Music School. Since 1972 in creative work. Until 1985, he lived in Kharkiv, since 1985 - in Kyiv.

Vitaliy Gubarenko's grave

He died on May 5, 2000 in Kyiv. Buried in Kyiv at Baikovo cemetery (plot No. 49a).

Vitaly Gubarenkov has a prominent place among Ukrainian opera composers of the 20th century. According to L. Kiyanovska, each of his 13 operas "attracts with a non-trivial, original solution in the combination of music and stage action, corresponding to the individual idea and choice of plot"[1]. His wife, Maryna Cherkashina-Gubarenko, wrote the librettos for most of the operas. In them, the composer reveals "the ability to convey by musical means the aroma and color of a distant era, the anxious pulse of the present, a subtle sense of the emotional expression of the characters, the dynamics of the unfolding of their feelings, the brightness and plasticity of musical pictures, the dramatic richness of large canvases." In addition to the opera genre, the composer also turned to instrumental and chamber-vocal. L. Kiyanovska notes that in them the composer particularly showed interest in Ukrainian folklore rites (symphonic poem "Kupalo"), intimate lyrics of Ukrainian poets (vocal cycles "Colors and Moods" to the words of I. Drach, "Autumn Sonnets" to the words of D. Pavlychka, "Stretch out your palms" to the words of V. Sausyura)