Sergei Yakutovich and Myroslav Skoryk
Sergei Yakutovich (1952 – 2017) was an outstanding Academician and art master of book illustrations and graphic arts. In 2003 Sergei Yakutovich received the Gold Medal from the Academy of Arts of Ukraine, and in 2013 he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine.
The artist had a distinctive individual style, perfectly mastering various technics of graphic art, in particular etching. Sergei Yakutovich created epic cycles of illustrations for famous works of world and national literature.
Sergei Yakutovich has 160 publications, including 17 volumes of modern Ukrainian literature. In recent years, the books with his illustrations have become a significant achievement of the national culture, and have been widely recognized by fans of book art both in Ukraine and abroad.
Yakutovich participated as the chief artist in the production of Yuri Illenko's film "A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa", TV films "When we Were Cossacks", "Paradise Lost" (based on Mykola Gogol's work), and "The Last Hetman". And in 2005, he participated in a large-scale project — the film "Taras Bulba" by Volodymyr Bortko.
Sergei Yakutovich is the People's Artist of Ukraine, laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine and member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine.
Myroslav Skoryk (1938-2020) is an outstanding composer, Hero of Ukraine (2008), author of the opera Moses. After returning to Ukraine in 1999, he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine.
His music is contemporary in style and contains idioms from diverse sources including German, Welsh, English, and Eastern European artistic traditions.
Myroslav Skoryk is also a pianist and a conductor. He was one of the winners of the Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine in 1987 for his Cello Concerto. During his career, Skoryk was active in the National Union of Composers of Ukraine. In April 2011 Skoryk was appointed Artistic Director of the National Opera of Ukraine.
Skoryk became Ukraine's youngest composition lecturer at the Lviv Conservatory. He wrote a book "The Structural Aspects of Chords in 20th Century Music» (Kyiv, 1983). His students were the composers Osvaldas Balakauskas, Ivan Karabyts and Yevhen Stankovych.