Stefan (Stepan) Vasylovych Turchak (28 February 1938, Matskovychi, Przemyśl County, Lviv Voivodeship, Poland - 23 October 1988, Kyiv) was an outstanding Ukrainian conductor. People's Artist of the USSR (1977), Honoured Artist, Hero of Socialist Labour. Winner of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize.
He was born on 28 February 1938 in the village of Matskovychi, now Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland. He spent his childhood and youth in Dubliany, Lviv region. In 1955, he graduated from the Filaret Kolessa Lviv Music and Pedagogical College, where he studied violin and mastered choral and orchestral conducting.
During the 1955/56 academic year, after graduating from the Lviv Filaret Kolessa Music and Pedagogical College, he worked as a music and singing teacher at the Sokal Pedagogical College. For two years, he organised a choir, which became famous in Sokal region for its performance of folk songs, and in 1957 the girls' ensemble even performed on the Kyiv stage.
Since 1957, he studied at the Mykola Lysenko Lviv Conservatory (Mykola Kolessa's conducting class), graduating successfully in 1962.
In 1960-1962, he was the conductor of the Ivan Franko Lviv State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
At the age of 25, he became the chief conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in Kyiv (1963-1966 and 1973-1977).
In 1967-1973 and since 1977, he was the chief conductor of the Taras Shevchenko State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine in Kyiv. Stefan Turchak staged nearly forty performances on the Kyiv opera stage, including Taras Bulba by Mykola Lysenko, Yaroslav the Wise by Heorhiy Maiboroda, and Boris Godunov, "Modest Mussorgsky's The Thief of Khovanshchyna, Zakharii Paliashvili's Abesalom and Ether, Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo and Eurydice, and Giuseppe Verdi's Otello, Aida and Requiem.
Since 1966, he has been the director of the symphony orchestra and head of the Department of Opera and Symphony Conducting at the Kyiv Conservatory (since 1973 - Associate Professor).
Stefan Turchak lived in Kyiv. He died on 23 October 1988. He was buried at the Baikove Cemetery (plot No. 7). The author of the tombstone is a sculptor V. Znoba.
Repertoire
Stefan Turchak's extensive repertoire included works of classical and contemporary music, with special attention paid to both symphonic and operatic works by Ukrainian composers such as L. Revutskyi, B. Liatoshynskyi, H. Maiboroda, and A. Shtoharenko.
The maestro has actively performed performances and symphony concerts in many countries of the world - England, Germany, Yugoslavia, Japan, staged Boris Godunov and The Hiding Place in Nice (France), Macbeth at the Royal Opera House of Madrid (Spain), Ivan Susanin and Carmen at the Zagreb Opera (Croatia).
He is the first director of operas:
"The Destruction of the Squadron" (1967), "Mamai" (1970) by V. Hubarenko;
"Yaroslav the Wise by G. Maiboroda (1975);
"The Standard Bearers by O. Bilash (1985).
Ballets:
"The Fireplace Master" by V. Hubarenko (1969);
"Olga" (1982) and "Prometheus" (1986) by Y. Stankovych.
Honours and awards
State Prize of the Georgian SSR named after Z. P. Paliashvili (1973). People's Artist of the USSR (1977), Honoured Artist, Hero of Socialist Labour.
He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.
In 1980, he was awarded the Shevchenko Prize for performing skills.
Family.
Wife - Gisela Tsypola, opera singer (soprano), soloist of the National Opera of Ukraine.
Honours
In 1994, the Stepan Turchak National Conductor Competition was founded, which takes place every 4 years. Since 2006, the competition has become international.
In Kyiv and Dubliany, there are children's art schools named after Stepan Turchak.
