Oleksandr Kozarenko, composer, pianist, musicologist, died at the age of 59 on the 22nd of March 22 in a hospital in Ivano-Frankivsk, Covid being supposedly the reason. This is a very painful loss of one of the most distinguished, active and original artists in Ukraine.
He said about himself that he was not a Ukrainian composer, but a "Ruthenian" one. After the war, his Lemko family was resettled in the "Wisła operation" to the village of Binczarowa near Krynica Zdrój, where his grandparents and mother, nee Trochanowska, come from. During the thaw, they managed to return to Kołomyja, where Oleksandr was born in 1963. Throughout his life, he was particularly attached to this Hutsul capital of Pokuttya.
Dear Sasza, we will miss you greatly. May you rest in peace!
Jerzy Stankiewicz
Vice President of the Cracow Branch of the Polish Composer's Union