The Library of Belarusian State Academy of Music presents a thematic exhibition, “Significant Figures of Belarusian Musicology”, dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the birth of Lidiya Mukharinskaya (1906-1987) and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kaleria Stepantsevich (1926-2021) – luminaries of Belarusian music art, science, and pedagogy.
These talented and endlessly committed to their work outstanding female educators dedicated their lives to music and their Alma mater.
Lidiya Mukharinskaya is an Honored Artist of the BSSR (1974), a musicologist, a PhD in Art History (1968), a member of the Union of Composers of the BSSR, a well-rounded ethnographer, and an attentive and patient mentor. She dedicated her life to Belarusian folk songs – the most valuable asset and spiritual heritage of the Belarusian people. Her fundamental research works have become firmly established in Soviet scholarship and have become textbooks for students of music universities.
Lidiya Mukharinskaya worked at Belarusian State Conservatory for over 40 years. Many Belarusian composers and musicologists are, to varying degrees, her students. During her work at the Conservatory, major scholarly works were written and intensive expeditionary work collecting folklore was conducted (over 30 years of “field experience”). At the initiative of L.Mukharinskaya, the Folk Music Department was created at the Conservatory. She fought in the Great Patriotic War, and throughout the war, as a volunteer, she served in the active Soviet Army as a medical orderly. She participated in the liberation of Belarus, marching with the 31st Army to Königsberg. She was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class, the “For Excellent Work” badge of the USSR Ministry of Culture, and Certificates of Honor of the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR.
Kaleria Stepantsevich is a PhD in Art History, Honored Worker of Higher Education of the BSSR (1976), Professor (1982), and Honorary Professor of Belarusian State Academy of Music (2016), has worked at the Conservatory for over 60 years. She is characterized by an exceptionally diverse range of interests and an indefatigable thirst for knowledge in many areas of music art and science. Karelia Stepantsevich is the author of over 250 scientific and methodological works, textbooks, and teaching aids on Belarusian music, and the compiler and editor of collections of articles. She has supervised candidate and master’s dissertations, as well as student theses.
Kaleria Iosifovna’s deep, multifaceted knowledge, incredible work ethic, and productivity in her scientific and pedagogical work have been recognized with government awards, including the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the medals “For Distinguished Labor”, “Veteran of Labor”, the Francysk Skaryna Medal, and honorary diplomas from the USSR and BSSR Ministries of Culture.
The exhibition features monographs, articles from journals, scientific papers and collections, materials from scientific and practical conferences, research works by Belarusian musicologists, teachers and postgraduate students of Belarusian State Academy of Music, and photographic documents.
The exhibition will be on display on the 6th floor of the elevator hall of academic building No. 3 (22 P. Brovka St.) from March 23 to June 30, 2026.
