Ukrainian musician, leader of the band "Ocean Elzy", public figure, former politician and head of the "Voice" party, composer, songwriter, lieutenant of the ZSU.
Won all-Ukrainian and international recognition as a musician, vocalist, leader of the rock band "Ocean Elsa", composer. Honored Artist of Ukraine (2005), Knight of the Order of Freedom, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 6th convocation from the party "Our Ukraine" (from 2007 to 2008) and of the 9th term. (2019—2020). Winner of the Vasyl Stus Prize (2014). Honorary citizen of Kyiv (2014) and Lviv (2014). Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (2009). Son of the former Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, physicist and politician Ivan Vakarchuk.
Biography
He was born on May 14, 1975 in Mukachevo in the family of the famous Ukrainian scientist-physicist Ivan Vakarchuk. He spent his childhood and youth in Lviv.
Father — Ivan Oleksandrovych (1947—2020), a Ukrainian, came from the Ukrainian village of Stari Bratushany in Moldova. Mother — Svitlana Oleksandrivna (b. 1947), a Ukrainian, was born in the city of Mukachevo, where her mother Nina (b. 1917, Mohyliv-Podilskyi, now Vinnytsia region) was assigned as an educator in 1946. 2 months after the birth of Svyatoslav, the family returned from Mukachevo to Lviv, where they lived permanently.
Svyatoslav graduated from Lviv School No. 4 with an advanced study of the English language (now the Lviv Linguistic Gymnasium) with a silver medal. He studied violin for two years at a music school and at the same time learned to play the bayan. During his school years, he played in the KVK, created a school theater, played basketball.
In 1990, he went on exchange to Canada, from where he brought a large collection of cassettes and rock music records.
In 1991-1996, he studied at the Physics Faculty of LNU named after Franko (specialization — theoretical physics). The second higher education is an international economist. In 1996, he entered postgraduate studies at the Department of Theoretical Physics at the same university.
In the summer-autumn of 1994, he joined the art-rock band "Clan of Silence", created in 1992 with the following composition: Andriy Golyak (vocals), Pavlo Gudimov (guitar), Yurii Khustochka (bass guitar), Denys Glinin (drums), after as Andrii Golyak left there earlier. On October 12, 1994, the group took the name "Ocean Elsa". Svyatoslav Vakarchuk became the vocalist, the author of most of the texts and music, and the constant leader of the band.
After graduating from the university, Vakarchuk could have continued his studies abroad, but focused on his musical career. In April 1998, the band moved to Kyiv, where they recorded their debut album, "Where We Are Not" (1998).
In September 2004, bassist Yuri Khustochka and keyboardist Dmytro Shurov (part of the group since 2000), who created the rock band "Esthetic Education", as well as guitarist Pavlo Gudimov, who created the rock band "Gudimov" in 2005, left the band. Only drummer Denis Glinin remained. After their departure, Svyatoslav wrote the song "Thank you".
The album "Gloria" (2005) was recorded by the new composition of "Oceanu Elsa".
In 2005, Svyatoslav won the Viva! The most beautiful" in the nomination "The most beautiful Ukrainian" according to the magazine "Viva!" and decorated its cover.
On November 4, 2008, a concert-presentation of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk's new musical project "Night" was held at the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater. At the concert, 11 compositions were presented, which were included in the album of the same name, which consists of songs of various genres, mostly jazz.
In the summer of 2009, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk defended his thesis for the title of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at the Institute of Physics of Condensed Systems of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The topic of the work: "Supersymmetry of an electron in a magnetic field". Work on the dissertation lasted for many years, but due to constant employment, it was possible to complete it only in 2009. Previously, one of the albums of "Oceanu Elsa" was called "Supersymmetry", and one of the songs of the album is called "Susy", which is an abbreviation of supersymmetry.
Concert at the XI International Investment Forum "Sochi - 2012" (RF)
In addition to his native Ukrainian, he is fluent in Polish, English and Russian.
At the end of 2011, he presented a new musical project, "Brussels", in which he presented songs that did not fit into the concept of the "Ocean Elsa" band. To work on this album, Svyatoslav invited musicians Dmytro Shurov, Maks Malyshev, Petr Chernyavsky and Serhiy Babkin. In the spring of 2012, a tour of the "Brussels" project was held. In the spring of 2016, the band "Ocean Elsa" released the album "Bez Mezh" and started a two-year world tour, which ended on June 17, 2017 in Lviv.
In 2013, he performed at the "New Wave" competition, singing Leonid Agutin's song "I will always be with you".
Since 2017, he has been a member of the Supervisory Board of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.
Since August 3, 2018, Svyatoslav has been the co-host of journalist Ivan Yakovyna in the program "Unexpected Physics" on Radio "NV".
In 2021, he released his third solo project, Orangery. In addition to him, some members of the band "Ocean Elsa" took part in the project - Milosh Yelich, Denis Dudko and Denis Glinin, as well as Dennis Adu, Hryhoriy Chaika and the winner of the "Voice" project Vitalina Mall the time
In the first days of the Russian invasion of 2022, he went to the territorial recruitment center and signed a contract with the Armed Forces. Received the rank of lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and was sent to the Lviv military-civilian administration
Policy
Vakarchuk in 2016
Parliamentary activity (2007—2008, 2019—2020)
Read more: Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 6th convocation
On September 30, 2007, Vakarchuk was elected in extraordinary elections to the VRU on the list of the pro-presidential NUNS bloc (No. 15 on the list). He was a member of the VRU Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information, as well as a member of inter-parliamentary relations groups.
As a people's deputy, he did not submit draft laws, he submitted 2 amendments, one of which was taken into account.
Was present at the meetings - 71 times, absent - 56 times. He missed 44% of the meetings (of which, the absolute majority — already after submitting an application to conclude the powers of a people's deputy). On September 11, 2008, he voluntarily surrendered his parliamentary credentials. On December 16, 2008, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution on early termination of the mandate of a People's Deputy.
In June 2019, Vakarchuk himself said that on September 11, 2008, he officially wrote a statement about drawing up a mandate and considered it necessary not to come to the parliament from that moment on. Yatsenyuk, who was the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada at the time, signed it, but the leadership of the "Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defense" bloc, on whose lists he got to the Rada, did not immediately expel him, and thus, the statistics of his visits significantly worsened. Vakarchuk added that before he wrote a statement on exclusion, he was responsible for his work in the parliament. "When we calculated how much, in reality, during the time when I was actually a deputy, I was absent, or more precisely, I did not come, because I was not absent at all, it turned out that it was 10% of the time," he explained.
According to VoxUkraine, Vakarchuk's words are true. And only 9% of the meetings were missed before writing the statement on drawing up the mandate.
He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada for the second time in extraordinary elections on July 21, 2019. On June 11, 2020, Vakarchuk announced plans to end his work as a People's Deputy.
This is the second time that Vakarchuk has submitted a mandate. Vakarchuk said that he has plans to implement a large educational project. Instead of Vakarchuk, his deputy in the Rada was taken by the wife of the ex-Minister of Defense Andriy Zahorodniuk, Alina Sviderska.
On September 4, Russia imposed personal sanctions on Vakarchuk and, among others, members of the Voice party, to which Svyatoslav reacted neutrally.
"Voice" party
On May 16, 2019, Vakarchuk presented his political party "Holos" on Starokyivska Gora. He headed the party's list in the parliamentary elections. He also named five key points of the program: "The first is the interests of the citizens of Ukraine above all else, the existential choice of Ukraine is Europe, one law for all, a free economy without oligarchs, the government is accountable to the citizens of Ukraine."
"Holos" received 5.82% of the votes and, accordingly, 17 deputies according to the lists, three more deputies from the party won in single-mandate constituencies.
On July 24, 2019, the congress of the "Voice" party elected Vakarchuk as the head of the party. On August 29, 2019, the "Voice" faction was created in the parliament. Serhii Rakhmanin became the leader of the "Voice" faction. He was a member of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation.
On June 11, 2020, he announced that he had registered in the Verkhovna Rada a resolution on drawing up deputy powers. On June 18, the VRU refused to terminate Vakarchuk's powers, on June 19, he left the faction of the Voice party.
interests
At the opening of the Dnipro-Arena stadium
Interested in Japanese culture and Buddhism. Among the writers, he notes Mykola Gogol, Ivan Franko, Anton Chekhov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Serhii Zhadan, Maria Matios, Lyubko Deresh, Yuriy Andruhovich, Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami, Hermann Hesse. He considers the legendary "The Beatles", as well as the rock bands "The Rolling Stones", "Pink Floyd" and "Queen" to be his musical idols. He is friends with the Russian singer Zemfira. Once, at concerts, Vakarchuk dedicated to her the song "Etude" from the album "Yananebibuv" and the song "Friend" from the album "Model" at a concert on November 23, 2012 in the club "Stadium Live". When the Russian woman had a concert in Kyiv on March 5, 2008, she sang the composition "Oceanu Elsa" "Let go", and the vocalist of the band then went on stage to Zemfira. On April 11, 2013, at a concert in Kyiv, Zemfira dedicated the song "Live in your head" to the band "Ocean Elsa".
Civic position
During the 1999 elections, he performed with a number of other singers in a promotional tour in support of Leonid Kuchma as a presidential candidate. Vakarchuk's father (one of the founders of the People's Movement of Ukraine) was then Kuchma's proxy in the elections.
During the 2004 elections, he actively supported the then opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk was an active participant of the Orange Revolution, he performed at concerts in support of Yushchenko on Independence Square together with Ruslana, Oleg Skrypka and other musicians and singers. Vakarchuk as the program's goodwill ambassadorUN Development for Youth in Ukraine participates in many social and cultural projects.
After the release of "Gloria" in 2005, where certain socio-political passages and philosophical questions began to appear, he became the ambassador of goodwill of the UN in Ukraine. Holds meetings with students throughout Ukraine.
All funds received from the sale of the single "Veseli, brate, chasy nastali... (single)" (2006) were allocated to an orphanage in the city of Makiivka.
In the parliamentary elections of 2006, he did not openly support any of the political forces. When, after the layoff and political crisis of 2007, it was decided to hold extraordinary elections to the Verkhovna Rada, the singer entered the list of the pro-presidential group "Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defense". At the same time, he was not a member of any political party.
After the beginning of the next stage of the political crisis in Ukraine, on September 11, 2008, the singer withdrew his powers as a deputy. On December 16, 2008, the Verkhovna Rada approved the compilation of the powers of the People's Deputies.
"I knew that complex political processes were taking place in the Verkhovna Rada. But what is done in this convocation is a fight for the sake of fighting - and that's all"
At the beginning of 2007, he initiated the social project "The Book Makes a Man", which was supposed to draw the attention of society to the current situation in the country, where people are not too eager to enrich themselves intellectually. Advertising posters and commercials appeared on television. The music of the song "Street (maybe everything is wrong)" from the album "Model" was used in the TV video.
He founded the "People of the Future" charitable foundation.
He initiated and financed the installation of a monument to the composer Volodymyr Ivasyuk in the center of Lviv.
On December 6, 2013, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk published the "Address to the Youth" and called on young people to stop dividing each other by region of residence or political preferences.
On January 22, 2014, Vakarchuk called on Viktor Yanukovych to stop the bloodshed.
On May 23, 2014, he called for a referendum on federalization and the language issue, but 5 years later he abandoned this idea, because "it is dangerous and irresponsible to bring the issue of national security to a referendum at a time when the enemy is waging not only a hot war against us, but also an information war ".
On March 30, 2018, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk spoke out against the exploitation of animals in the circus.
On May 30, 2018, he recorded a video appeal in support of Ukrainian director Oleh Sentsov, illegally imprisoned in Russia.
On October 29, 2018, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk stated that he cannot stand aside and if it is necessary to limit himself in creativity in order to change the country with everyone, then he is ready to do it.
On January 28, 2019, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk officially announced that he will not participate in the presidential elections in the spring of 2019.
On May 16, 2019, he announced the creation of the Holos political party and his participation in the summer 2019 parliamentary elections.
Advocates granting Crimea the status of Crimean Tatar national-territorial autonomy.
Awards
Order of Freedom (January 22, 2016) — for a significant personal contribution to state building, socio-economic, scientific-technical, cultural-educational development of the Ukrainian state, the cause of consolidation of Ukrainian society, many years of conscientious work
Honored Artist of Ukraine (August 23, 2005) — for a significant personal contribution to the socio-economic, scientific and cultural development of Ukraine, significant labor achievements and active public activity
Laureate of the Vasyl Stus Prize (2014)
On May 1, 2015, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk received the title of "Honorary Citizen of the City of Lviv"
On May 14, 2015, the Kyiv City Council awarded Vakarchuk the title of "Honorary Citizen of Kyiv".
Interesting Facts
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk is the author of the song "He is waiting for her", which was performed by Oleksandr Ponomaryev. This song "Ocean Elsa" was played as part of the "Pacific Ocean" concert program in early 2004.
In 2005, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk won one million hryvnias in the TV show "The First Million" — for the first time in the history of this program in Ukraine. Svyatoslav directed the winnings to charity.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk once said during one of the chats (on M1) that he is ambidextrous, that is, a person who is equally good with his right and left hands.
As of January 2017, he had 9 songs in the top Ukrainian-language clips on YouTube.
In addition to Elsa's Ocean, Svyatoslav collaborates with other musicians, and the results of this collaboration were two albums:
"At night" (2008)
"Brussels" (2011)
Collaborates with Khrystyna Solova and Leo Mantis.
Privacy
The partner from the beginning of the 2000s until 2021 is Lyalya Fonaryova, the couple was not officially married. Together they raised Lyala's daughter from her first marriage with Volodymyr Tarasyuk, Diana Fonaryova, whom Vakarchuk adopted... They had no children together. In June 2021, Vakarchuk announced the end of his relationship with Lyala as a couple, noting that they "were, are and will be close people."
Children
son Ivan Svyatoslavovich Vakarchuk (born June 19, 2021).
daughter Solomiya Svyatoslavivna Vakarchuk (b. June 21, 2022)
On June 19, 2022, on Father's Day, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk showed the first photo with his son on Instagram.
daughter Dianeand Fonaryova (b. 1993, adopted)
Fortunes
In 2019, he had two apartments in Kyiv, in one of which he lived with his family. He has a Range Rover car and 12 million UAH in his accounts. He also owns the company Supersimetria, which deals with booking tickets.
In his declaration for 2019, Vakarchuk indicated more than UAH 3.5 million in income, two apartments, a grand piano and four cars.
Video clips
Year Song Title Director(s) Album
1995 "Long Time Ago" Volodymyr Zaikovsky Where we are not there
1996 "In your eyes"
1998 "Where we are not there" Semyon Horov Where we are not there
1999 "Pines" Yananebibuv
2000 "That day" Vitaly Klimov
"Let go" Andrii Nekrasov
2001 "911" Igor and Oleksandr Stekolenko Model
"I'm with you"
"Flower"
2002 "Friend" Louis Frank
"Cold" Viktor Pryduvalov Supersymmetry
2003 "Cat"
"Almost spring"
"For you" Oleksandr Karpenko
"911 (Pacific Ocean)" by Lyal Fonaryev 1221
2004 "Thank you" Viktor Pryduvalov Thank you! (single)
2005 "No Fight" GLORIA
"Above the sky" Ihor and Oleksandr Stekolenko
"Don't Ask" (Live)
2006 "I feel" Ilya Chychkan
"Merry, brother, the times have come..." Viktor Pryduvalov Merry, brother, the times have come... (single)
2007 "Everything will be fine" by Mira
"Green eyes" by Ilya Chychkan
2009 "I so want..." Mykhailo Koroteev Dolce Vita
2010 "More for us"
"Online" (Live) filming of the TV channel "1+1"
"On the line of fire" Semyon Horov
2013 "Hug" Howard Greenhall Earth
"Shoot" Mike Bruce
"Rendez-Vous"
"Wall" (Live) Volodymyr Shklyarevsky and
Viktor Pryduvalov (editing)
2015 "In the sky" (Live) Viktor Pryduvalov
"Not Your War" Howard Greenhall No Limits
"Life begins again" Volodymyr Shklyarevskyi
"Moment" by Misha Koroteev and Oleksiy Sobolev
2016 "Don't go" Ihor Stekolenko
2017 "The Sun" Viktor Pryduvalov
2018 "Without you" Anna Buryachkova
2020 "When we become ourselves" Anna Buryachkova
2021 "#BezTebeMeneNema" Oksana Kurmaz
2021 "Country of Children" feat. alyona alyona Viktor Pryduvalov, Yaroslav Pilunskyi
After completing the deputy mandate, in August 2020 he released the single "When we become ourselves", in December 2020 he released a music video for the new song "Hold". At the beginning of 2021, the premiere of the new author's project "Orangery" took place, in which such songs as "Again", "Same and", "Without a reason" were presented.
