Stepan Ilkovych Stelmashchuk (8 October 1925, Skorodyntsi - 5 January 2011, Lviv) was a teacher, choral conductor, composer, folklorist, essayist, active member of the National Academy of Sciences, cultural and public figure, professor.
Biography.
He was born in the village of Skorodyntsi, Chortkiv district, Ternopil region, on 8 October 1925 in the peasant family of a farmer and carpenter Ilko and Anna Stelmashchuk.
He received his musical education first at the Lviv Music School (1950-1954), and then at the Lviv Conservatory (1954-1959, conducting and choral faculty, class of V. Vasylevych, M. Antkiv). While still in his third year of study at the Conservatory, S. Stelmashchuk simultaneously became the director of the choir of students of the music and philology speciality of the Lviv Pedagogical Institute, which moved to Drohobych in January 1960.
Stepan Stelmashchuk died on 5 January 2011 in Lviv.
Musical works
The composer's legacy in the field of sacred music is also significant. In 2007, his "Divine Liturgy. For Mixed Choir", which was written during 1949-1951 in the godless Soviet times and completed in 1988-1992. Many carols arranged by S. Stelmashchuk are known. He wrote music to poetry by: T. Shevchenko, M. Shashkevych, S. Rudansky, M. Starytsky, I. Franko, Ulyana Kravchenko, B. Hrinchenko, R. Kupchynsky, Y. Shkrumeliak, V. Sosiura, Yar Slavutych, and Yanka Kupala.
