VALENTYN KOSTENKO (1895-1960) was a composer, musicologist, and educator. He sang in the court chapel choir in Saint Petersburg as an adolescent, and graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1921. Beginning in 1923, he taught at the Kharkiv Music and Drama Institute and served as musical director of Kharkiv Ukrainian Radio. From 1927 to 1932, he served as the head of the Association of Revolutionary Composers of Ukraine.

His compositions, which were influenced by contemporary European music, include the operas Karmeliuk, Nazar Stodolia (based on the play by Taras Shevchenko), and The Carpathians; the ballet Reborn Steppe; the symphony The Year 1917; a suite for symphony orchestra; violin, piano, and choral pieces; and six string quartets.

His scholarly publications include studies of composer Pavlo Senytsia (1922), the role of folk songs in Ukrainian music (1928), and the influence of German expressionism on Ukrainian music (1929). He also wrote a textbook on music theory.