Andriy Shtoharenko

Andriy Shtoharenko ( _uk. Андрій Якович Штогаренко) (15 October, 1902 - 1992) was an Ukrainian composer and teacher.

Biography

Andriy Shtoharenko was born in the Ukrainian village of Novi Kaidaky (now part of the city of Dnipropetrovsk). He completed his music studies at the Kharkiv Conservatory in 1936 under S. Bohatyriov. From 1921-30 he worked a teacher of singing in Middle schools. In 1926 he became the director of an accordion ensemble.

In 1944 he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. From 1954 he lectured at the Kiev conservatory. In 1960 he became a professor and in 1968 became the rector of the above mentioned institution. From 1968 he was the head of the Union of Composer's of Ukraine.

As a composer, he was well-known within the Soviet Union, but he and his music remain entirely unknown elsewhere. He won the USSR State Prize for his compositions in 1946 and 1952 and was awarded the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR. During his long career, he served in many positions, including Professor of Composition and Director of the Kharkiv Conservatory and later Kiev Conservatory.

Originally graduating as an button-accordion player and again as a composer. He composed in nearly every genre, primarily writing works for orchestra, solo piano, and voice. He also wrote number of film scores. His chamber music, though it comprises only a small part of his output, has been highly praised by critics. Shtoharenko's music shows the influence of Mussorgsky and Borodin in that many of his works tend to be of a programatic and descriptive nature.Most of Shtoharenko's works deal with political themes glorifying the Communist party. A large section also deal with themes such as the Great Patriotic War and Friendship of Soviet Peoples.

Important works

*Lenin walks across this planet (1967),
*Cantata to th 800th anniversary of Moscow (1954)
*The Road to October (1977)
*Ode to the Communist party (1977),
*6 symphonies,
*Symphonic dances (1980),

Awards

*USSR State Prize 1946, 1952
*Hero of Soviet Labour prize 1972
*People's Artist of the USSR 1972
*Shevchenko State prizeof Ukraine 1974

References

*Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopeadic Dictionary, Kiev, 1987
*Keldysh Yu. V. ed. Muzykal'naya Entsyklopedia, Moscow, 1982
*Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. London: Macmillan 1980. ISBN 0-333-23111-2.
*Some of the information on this page appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust but permission has been granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

External links

* [http://editionsilvertrust.com/Shtogarenko-armenian-sketches.htm Armenian Sketches for String Quartet sound-bites and short biography]