Yevhen Stankovych is a leading contemporary Ukrainian composer. A pupil of Lyatoshynsky and Skoryk, he developed a line of large-scale epic symphonic music tightly bound to Ukrainian historical and folk material.
Key works: 6 symphonies (especially the Third, I Affirm Myself, to verses by Pavlo Tychyna); the ballet Olha (1981, about the Kyivan princess, the first ruler of Rus' to accept Christianity); the folk-opera When the Fern Blooms (a ritual-mythological spectacle); Holosinnia (a women's ritual work); concertos for various instruments. Stankovych long chaired the Composers' Union of Ukraine and taught at the Kyiv Academy. People's Artist of Ukraine (1986), Hero of Ukraine (2007). Since February 24, 2022, he has actively advocated for the Ukrainian front.
