Ivan Stepanovych Kovaliv (*2 May 1916, Pidkamin - d.5 May 1987, Toronto) was a Ukrainian violinist, conductor, writer and teacher.
He was born in 1916 in Pidkamin near Rohatyn in the family of a priest (the son of the writer Stepan Kovaliv).
He received his education at an academic gymnasium in Lviv. At the same time, he studied at the Mykola Lysenko Music Institute. He completed his higher musical education in Vienna.
He performed his own violin concerts, taught musicology in Lviv, worked at the Lviv Opera, and was published in the magazines Nashi Dni, Nazustrich, and Modernity. In 1942, a collection of poetry Preludes was published in Lviv.
In 1944 he left for Germany, in 1949 - for Canada, where in 1949-1950 he was a soloist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
He founded the Youth String Orchestra (1958) and the Lysenko Music Institute in Toronto in 1953, which he directed until the end of his life.
He studied music at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1960. He was the organiser and conductor of the choir at St Nicholas Church in Toronto. He published poetry, prose, and journalistic articles in various magazines in exile, including Litavry, Modernity, and others. In 1986, he published his poetry book Three Collections (Triptych).
He wrote the novels "Turn" (unfinished, 1943) and "Travels to Rosokhvysh" (1987), a number of short stories, literary criticism and musicology articles.
Member of the Writers' Union "Slovo" and the Union of Ukrainian Journalists (in exile).
Works.
The author of the poetry collections Preludes (1942), Three Collections (1986), the story Turn (1943), and Travels to Rysokhvyshche (1987).
Separate editions:
Kovaliv I. Chords and Discords // Relay. New York - Toronto, 1974. - P. 86-91.
Kovaliv I. Poems // Out of Tradition. Anthology of Ukrainian Modern Poetry in the Diaspora. - Kyiv, Toronto, Edmonton, Ottawa, 1993. - P. 68-76.
Kovaliv I. Travels to Rysokhvoshcha. - Toronto: Word, 1987. 178 p.
Hospitable speech by M. Skala-Staryckyj. "The Voice of Ukraine (Toronto), 1957, 21 September;
Lev Turkevych - an outstanding conductor. "The Voice of Ukraine (Toronto), 1961, 2 December;
Vasyl Barvinsky. A Sketch of Life and Work. Toronto, 1964.
