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.

Olha Basystiuk was born in Western Ukraine in August 1950 and grew up in the village of Polyana on the banks of the Ebruch in Khmelnitsky region. She was influenced by the Ukrainian singer Salomei Krushelnitska to whom she listened on the radio, and mezzo soprano Irina Arkhipova of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. She attended a music school in the nearest town and after graduation, attended the Lviv Conservatoire, studying with Professor Zhilkina. In her fourth year she won the Glinka All-Union Song Competition. In 1975 she was selected to represent the USSR at the prestigious Rio de Janiero Song Competition where she won first prize with the jury commenting on her technical mastery, intonation, style and natural phrasing. The same year she won the Gold Medal at the Popova Festival in Bulgaria. She also took first prize in the UNESCO International Recording Competition with her Melodiya LP in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.

Despite this success, she was subsequently ignored by the Soviet cultural authorities and did not sing outside the USSR again until after 1991. During the 1980s, she sang regularly at the Philharmonia in Kyiv and toured in Moscow, Lenigrad (St Petersburg) and the Baltic countries. She appeared regularly in St Petersburg's White Nights Festival which was held at the Philharmonia Hall and the Glinka Capella Hall. Her repertoire included international and Ukrainian composers, arias and opera. Her opera debut was the role of Tayana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Lviv State Opera House.

Irina Kalynowska was born in Simferopol in Crimea and studied at the Kyiv State Conservatoire with Professor Yankelevich (in piano), Professor Koltlarevsky (organ) and graduated in 1978. She continued her education in Germany with V Shetelich and L Kremer, Slovakia with F Klinda, Lithuania with L Digris/ In 1982, she was a prize winner at the All-Ukraine Organ Competition and received a special prize for her interpretation of contemporary Soviet works for organ. She was a soloist with the Organ Hall in the Kyiv Philharmonia Society for a number of years. Her repertoire includes ancient masters to Mendellsohn, Liszt, Schumann, Franck, Widor, contemporary composer Schnittke and Ukrainian composers Guba, Yuselyunas, Kalyn, Zubitsky and Nazarov. She performed both in chamber recitals, symphony orchestras and other large-scale ensembles. Her UK debut was with Olha Basystiuk in 1994.