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Halyna Ovcharenko was born in Ukraine, where from the age of eight she began her journey and career as a national and international award-winning composer. Amongst the highlights of her early career, she was awarded the Laureate of the Ukrainian National Choral Works Competition, won two international composers’ competitions, and was awarded a scholarship to study for a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Bristol. After graduating with honours from the Kiev National Academy of Music, she participated in a course for young composers tutored by K. Penderecki in Poland. Halyna continued her study of composition at the University of Bristol, where she was awarded a Doctorate in 2002.
After her move to the UK, Halyna continued to compose music pieces which appealed to an increasingly growing audience. Amongst her works are pieces for solo instruments, choirs, ensembles, chamber and symphony orchestras, music for theatre and documentary film. Her music has been commissioned by the English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC London Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish National Ensemble, the London Children’s Ballet, French Flute Orchestra, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, South West Youth Wind Sinfonia and many solo and chamber music performers. In 2005 Halyna worked as a Composer in Residence at the Visby International Centre for composers, Sweden.
Her two ballets The Last Battle pursuant to text by C.S. Lewis and Kupala’s Night pursuant to text by Gogol were successfully performed at the Peacock Theatre in London West End and at the Ljubliana National Opera and Ballet Theatre and were admirably acclaimed by professional critics in the national and international press and her Composition Invocation Of Rain was chosen by the SPNM (Society of Promotion of New Music) as one of the best compositions in the United Kingdom in 2004.
There is an entry dedicated to Halyna and her work in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition (volume 18, page 817), a defining professional encyclopaedia for musicians.
Halyna Ovcharenko draws her creative inspiration from ancient folk art.
Starting at the age of 15, she travelled through Ukrainian villages and recorded folk songs, documented rituals and ceremonies. Later she participated in folklore expeditions organized by the Kyiv Academy of Music. In support of her research in traditional music culture she was awarded a scholarship from University of Amsterdam to attend a Summer Course in Ethnomusicology.
Halyna believes in nurturing and encouraging young talents in in their creative work, she has donated a trophy to the Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare Music Festivals to reward young composers for their achievements. In her free time, Halyna dedicates herself to teaching piano and composition; her students have described her as “dedicated”, “passionate” and “innovative in her methods”. Amongst Halyna’s recent publications are a series of piano duets books published by Oxford University Press and Spartan Press, featuring original compositions by Halyna as well as some popular classical music arranged, for all levels of performers to play in duet to enable learning to be combined with professionalism and fun.
The war in Ukraine did not leave Halyna Ovcharenko indifferent to human grief. In 2022, more than £450 earned from international choirs performing her work Over the river a cuckoo cried was transferred to an international children’s charity fund to support Ukrainian orphans who lost their hero parents who bravely defended Ukraine. And her arrangement of the traditional Christmas song We Wish You a Merry Christmas, with the support of Liz Lane and Grimethorpe brass band, became a project that raised about £1000 for Ukrainian orphans.
Halyna continues to write new compositions, explore new inspirations and receive recognition for her work.