Stefania Dovhan was born in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. She received her primary musical education at the Kyiv Music School for Children named after Dmitry Shostakovich. Here she learned to play the piano and at the same time sang in the Lyubystok Children's Choir at the Kyiv Conservatory in 1984-95. Her parents are not musicians, but they all have very good voices. At the age of five, Stefaniia's first public performance took place in the Mykola Lysenko Museum, where she sang the aria of Lysychka Sister from the children's opera Pan Kotskyi. Her mother is an artist-restorer who teaches at a college in America, her grandmother is a journalist and cultural activist Marharyta Dovhan, and her grandfather is a famous Ukrainian sculptor Borys Dovhan. Her grandmother took her to music school, where Stefaniia sang Ukrainian folk songs and learnt to play the flute and bandura. Together with her grandmother, she participated in Leopold Yashchenko's choir "Homin". Classical music always sounded at home, and when she was little, she was introduced to the works of Borys Hmyrya, Yevheniia Miroshnychenko, and Solomiia Krushelnytska. She attended the operas Rigoletto, La Boheme and La Traviata and realised that she was not a pianist.
When Stefania turned 15, her mother married an American of Ukrainian descent and took her daughter with her to the United States. Here, Stephanie went to study at the Baltimore School of the Arts, the music department, where she chose to major in singing. Although education in the US is very expensive - more than $30,000 a year - the country nurtures talent, and Stefania did not spend a single penny on her studies. She received a scholarship, books for free, a separate apartment for four years, and meals paid for. Next came her studies at the University of Maryland's vocal department, which, as a bachelor's student, Stephanie concluded with a final concert where she sang arias written in different musical styles and languages.
After graduation, Stephanie spent two years studying at the Augsburg Academy of Music in Germany, where she received her master's degree. Later, a fundraiser was announced to raise money for the talented singer to attend masterclasses at the Salzburg Music Festival, where she won the creative competition and was named the Competition Favourite. In 2003, she was invited to train at the National Opera of Ukraine.
Stefania Dovgan has sung at many prestigious opera houses around the world and has won various international competitions. Her repertoire includes more than 30 opera roles, including Violetta in Gioia Verdi's La Traviata, Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust, Nedda in Leoncavallo's La Pagliacci, Donna Anna in W. A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Musetta in Puccini's La bohème, Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème, and others. She has collaborated with prominent conductors such as: Sir Mark Elder (Royal Opera House, London), Emanuel Viom (Spoleto Festival), Harry Vedov (New York City Opera), George Manahattan (Portland Opera).
Stefaniia Dovhan was a finalist at the Operalia Competition (2010) and the Hans Gabor International Singing Competition, and received the Emmerich Smol Award.
