A Forgotten Ukrainian Composer in England: The Case of Stefania Turkevych

• In Event: Feminine Histories and Identities in Russian and Ukrainian Music

Abstract

Stefania Turkevych spent her early career in Lviv, an active member of the Galician musical community in the 1930s, but in 1944, she emigrated with her husband and children to the United Kingdom. Her subsequent life gives a mixed picture of her fate as an émigré: on the one hand, she escaped long years in Displaced Persons camps; on the other, she did not succeed as an émigré composer. I will argue that the reasons for this lie between the realities of British and West European music culture in the 1950s and 60s, the social structure of her adopted country and the status of emigrants in it, as well as the personal qualities of Stephania Turkevych herself and her status as a female composer in Britain.

Author

• Mariia Romanets, U of Bristol (UK)