Valentin Silvestrov
Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov was born on September 30, 1937 in Kiev. He received his basic musical education at the Kiev Night School for Music. From 1958 to 1963 he studied piano and music theory and majored in compositional technique with Boris Lyatoshinsky at the Conservatory in his native city, following which he taught for several years at music schools in Kiev. Today Mr. Silvestrov is a free-lance composer, still living in Kiev. His works have meanwhile established a firm position at international modern music festivals. Some of his compositions have been released by major western publishers. Valentin Silvestrov ranks as one of the leading representatives of the so-called "Kiev avant-garde", which made its first public appearance around 1960 and was vehemently criticized by the advocates of conservative Soviet musical æsthetics. Mr. Silvestrov has retained his autonomy. In 1970 he underwent a stylistic change, forsaking the conventional compositional techniques of the avant-garde and moving on to a style comparable to one of the western "post-modern" schools, which he characterizes as "Meta Music" ("metaphorical music").
born in 1937