Yevhen Stankovych is one of the central figures of contemporary Ukrainian music. A prolific composer, he has, since 1966, authored six symphonies, an opera (“When the Fern Blooms”), five ballets, a large number of works in the oratorical, vocal, instrumental genres, as well as incidental music to six music theatre plays and over a hundred films.

Born in Svaliava, Yevhen Stankovych studied music first at the Music Institute of Uzhgorod and then at Lviv and Kyiv Conservatoires, where he studied with Borys Liatoshynsky and later with Myroslav Skoryk.

From his very first compositions, Stankovych declared himself as a composer of dramatic temperament, not adverse to emotional risk. The composer’s elaborate polyphonic textures and meditative lyricism are reminiscent of the strict instrumental style of Baroque music, while the full-bodied affects with the obvious post-romantic colourings give the music warmth and expressiveness.

Yevhen Stankovych is the recipient of several major awards. His Chamber Symphony No. 3 was selected by UNESCO’s World Tribune as one of ten best works of 1985. He has been recognised with several awards in Ukraine, including the country’s highest award for artistic creativity the Shevchenko Prize.

The composer’s works have been performed in Canada, the USA, Germany, France, Switzerland, Finland, Spain, China, the Philippines and Yugoslavia, in addition to performances in former USSR and in countries of Eastern Europe. In January 1992, he was the senior juror at Canada’s First Contemporary Music Competition held in Winnipeg and has been featured at contemporary music festivals in Germany and Poland. In 1996, he was composer-in-residence in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

His works have been recorded on Melodia, Analekta, ASV and Naxos labels. Yevhen Stankovych is chair of Composition Faculty at the National Music Academy of Ukraine and former Chairman of the Composer’s Union of Ukraine.

(2004)