Kateryna Rubchakova

Kateryna Andriivna Rubchakova (, née Kossak; 29 April 1881 – 22 November 1919) was a Ukrainian actress of universal transformation and a singer in lyrical soprano. Prima donna of the Galician Theater.

Biography Kateryna Rubchakova was born on 29 April 1881 in Chortkiv to a deacon and amateur conductor of the city choir, Andrii Kossak (1850–1917), the son of a blacksmith and weaver Ivan Kossak from the village of Bila near Chortkiv, and his wife Rozaliia Hryhorivna Fedorovych (1856–1923), the daughter of peasants from Vyhnanka.

Studied at people's school in Chortkiv, where she first performed in the choir. She began her stage career under the direction of Stepan Yanovych and Kost' Pidvysotskyi. Study at the music and drama studio at the theater under the direction of Yosyp Stadnyk, and singing – with S. Kozlovska (1901–1902).

In 1886–1914, she worked at the Ukrainska Besida Theatre in Lviv (1917–1918 – director), and in 1916–1918 she headed the troupe of the Streletskyi Theater.

She died on 22 November 1919 from typhus in Zinkivtsi, now Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine. Mother of actresses Yaroslava, Olha, and Nadiia Rubchakivna, mother-in-law of Hnat Yura.

Commemoration In 1981, the centenary of Rubchakova's birth was celebrated under the auspices of UNESCO. In 1989, in Kyiv, Petro Medvedyk published the book "Kateryna Rubchakova".

In Chortkiv, a house of culture was named in Rubchakova's honor and a bust was erected (1991, sculpted by Dmytro Stetsko). The local history museum has an exhibition dedicated to her. She also has streets named in her honor in Khmelnytskyi, Chortkiv, Borshchiv, and Nahirianka.