Volodymyr Runchak
Volodymyr Petrovych Runchak () is a Ukrainian accordionist, conductor and composer who was born on June 12, 1960 in Lutsk where in 1979 he attended its music college. In 1984 he was a winner of the Republican Accordion Competition and the same year began studying conducting at the Kiev Conservatory where he also studied composing two years later. In 1988 he joined National Union of Composers of Ukraine and remained there till this day. He has conducted over 100 works which he performed in his native Ukraine, neighboring Russia, and then went to Kazakhstan and France. Currently he serves  as a member of the New Music Association and is a founder of New Music Concert Series. Legacy. Runchak wrote a numerous works for instruments and vocal. According to «"Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"» V. Runchak found his personal balance between the stylistic and technological limitations and the new freedom. In his works one can hear the courage of the author’s expression which goes far beyond the limit of belonging to any composer’s school. Often, the avant-garde means are the only means for him. According to N. Krechko, the composer focuses on complex dissonant language, musical expression, innovative techniques  associated with sound, atypical spatial-acoustic and timbre-color means .. Runchak is a bright representative of Ukrainian musical actionism (along with Serhiy Zazhytko, Serhiy Yarunsky, Karmela Tsepkolenko, Lyudmyla Yurina, Ivan Nebesny, Danylo Pertsov and Hryhoriy Nemyrovsky). Instrumental theater for V. Runchak is related to M. Kagel's instrumental theater, and, according to researchers, became a means to draw attention to social problems.