Formed by the Council of Ministers of Ukraine in November 1918, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine is considered one of the finest symphony orchestras in Eastern Europe. Its first conductor was Oleksander Horilyj, and Natan Rachlin was artistic director from 1937 until 1962. Stefan Turchak, Volodymyr Kozhuchar, Fedir Hlushchenko, Igor Blazhkov and Theodore Kuchar have served as principal conductors, while guest conductors have included Leopold Stokowski, Igor Markevitch, Kurt Sanderling, Evgeny Mravinsky, Kiril Kondrashin, Evgeny Svetlanov and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Soloists who performed with the NSOU include Arthur Rubinstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan, Gidon Kremer, Oleh Krysa, Monserrat Caballé, José Carreras and Juan Diego Flores. The NSOU has appeared in concerts throughout the world and was entrusted with first performances of works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khatchaturian, Lyatoshynsky, Silvestrov, Skoryk and Stankovych. Between 1994 and 2004 the orchestra made over 80 recordings for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels, including the complete symphonies of Kalinnikov, Lyatoshynsky, Martinů and Prokofiev, as well as major works of Dvořák, Glazunov, Mozart, Shchedrin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. They also recorded the symphonies and orchestral works of Ukraine’s leading contemporary symphonist, Yevhen Stankovych. The recording of Lyatoshynsky’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 [Naxos 8.555579] was awarded ABC’s “Best International Recording of the Year” in 1994. Their recording of the complete works for violin and orchestra by Walter Piston for the Naxos label [8.559003] was hailed by Gramophone (January, 2000) as a “Record of the Year” in 1999. The complete symphonies of Prokofiev, on the Naxos label, are regarded by many critics as the most accomplished cycle available on compact disc. Volodymyr Sirenko has been artistic director and chief conductor of the orchestra since April 1999. Alexander Hornostai has been managing director and producer since June 2006.