Works >> Introduction.
Amongst her works are pieces for solo instruments, ensembles, choirs, chamber
and symphony orchestras, music for theatre and documentary film. Her music
was commissioned by English Chamber Orchestra, BBC London Symphony Orchestra,
Scottish National Ensemble, London Children's Ballet and many other solo and chamber music performers.
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, West End London and
Ljubliana’s National Opera and Ballet Theatre.
"The main trend in Halyna Ovcharenko’s work is determined by rural folklore and folk music forms,
which inspired many of her compositions. In her endeavour to breathe symphonic life into
folksong, she has encountered the problem of amalgamating folk sources and frequently complex
contemporary techniques." Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition Volume 18, page 817.
Her output includes the Sun Scorched Mallow for choir, orchestra and soloists that won the
Marian and Ivanna Kotz International Competition for her in Kiev in 1992. Everlasting for chamber
orchestra and authentic voice ensemble won her a prize at the 1995 International Women
Composer’s Competition in Ukraine. Recognition was given by the Society for New Music in 2004
for her Invocation of Rain. This piece, like the Sun Scorched Mallow, harks back to the genocidal
drought in the Ukraine in the 1930s. Halyna wrote the text of Invocation and the vivid and exciting
scoring calls for a large percussion section with a number of unconventional instruments.
In 2000 Halyna Ovcharenko’s ballet The Last Battle was performed at the West End in London.
In 2002 the International Society for Contemporary Music specially selected her music for a ballet
based on Golgol’s pagan story St John’s Eve entitled Kupala’s Night to receive full staging at the
World Music Days festival in Slovenia performed by the Ljubligana National Opera and Ballet
Theatre. In the music are elements of ancient Ukrainian folk music. Halyna has made her own
expeditions into the depths of rural Ukraine to tap into what remains of traditional folk music.
There are also two pieces for wind band that were in 2005 given their world premiere in the Great
Hall of Bristol Grammar School by the South West Youth Wind Sinfonia. This ensemble that was
launched by North Somerset Council’s Music Service.
Polyphonic Pastorals for 24 Flutes was premiered and performed by the French Flute Orchestra
in Paris 2007. A little later that year another premier of her work, There was a Shimmering
Silence, for string orchestra took place in Glasgow, Aberdeen, performed by the Scottish
Ensemble.
Halyna has dedicated the recent years to working on music publications (for more detail please
see Catalogue of Works) and to nurturing young talent in composition and piano. In order to
support and encourage young talented students, Halyna has donated a trophy to the Bristol and
Weston Super Mare music festivals to reward young composers in the under thirteen category.