Taras Shevchenko (9 March 1815 - 10 March 1861) was born into serfdom in Kaniv, just outside Kyiv, and was orphaned by the age of 12. Aged 14, he became a servant of P Englehart and served him in Vilnius, Lithuania and St Petersburg, Russia. Noticing his artistic talent, Englehart apprenticed him to the painter V. Shiriav for four years, allowing Shevchenko to meet other artists as well as receiving his education. Shevchenko is recognised as Ukraine’s national poet and enjoys a status...

Taras Shevchenko (9 March 1815 - 10 March 1861) was born into serfdom in Kaniv, just outside Kyiv, and was orphaned by the age of 12. Aged 14, he became a servant of P Englehart and served him in Vilnius, Lithuania and St Petersburg, Russia. Noticing his artistic talent, Englehart apprenticed him to the painter V. Shiriav for four years, allowing Shevchenko to meet other artists as well as receiving his education.

Shevchenko is recognised as Ukraine’s national poet and enjoys a status similar to that of William Shakespeare in British culture. The significance of Shevchenko is in his use of the Ukrainian language and his loyalty to using it in order to elevate it from a vernacular to a literary language at a time when its use was restricted by the Russian Empire. The significance of his work as a statement of national identity and the use of the Ukrainian language was of great importance to the diaspora community, who felt a duty to perform his work as widely as possible. It was, and continues to be, usual for Ukrainian communities in the Britain to hold a celebratory concert in honour of Shevchenko in March each year.