Taras Tkachenko

Born in Kiev, Ukraine, and raised in New York City, Taras Tkachenko started his musical journey at the age of 5 by taking rigorous daily piano lessons. At age 13, he picked up the guitar and began playing in high school rock bands, as well as doing shows at various New York venues such as the Knitting Factory and the legendary CBGBs. He then went onto Bard College (New York), where his orchestral work "Ukrainischer Rhapsodie" was performed by the American Symphony Orchestra. It was the first time he had written for orchestra and was awarded the 'Jacob Druckman prize for innovation and excellence in music composition' by the president of the college, Leon Botstein. From there, Taras went onto the Aspen School of Music (Aspen, Colorado) and later USC (Los Angeles, California) to pursue film music even further. In 2010, shortly after graduating USC, Taras started working on feature films such as "Paranormal Whacktivity" (Roger Roth), "Betrayal" (Jack Topalian) and "Die Fighting" (Fabian Garcia). Aside from writing music to picture, Taras is also heavily involved in electronic dance music production, working with signed pop artists such as Reuben Cannon (Nick Cannon's younger brother) and French pop artist Marie Parie. His music has been performed by many orchestras including the LA Union Players, the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen Orchestra, the Da Capo Quintet, and the American Symphony Orchestra. His writing style is heavily influenced by electronic music as he often combines orchestral elements with synthesized sounds. He is also naturally well versed in folk music and incorporates Eastern European melodies and passages into his work giving it a raw and solid original sound.