Virko Baley was born in Ukraine in 1938, but has spent his creative life in the United States and considers himself a citizen of the world. Multi-lingual and multi-disciplinary, he infuses his music with themes of contemporary and traditional motifs. Shirley Fleming, reviewing a concert of his music, given by CONTINUUM, in the New York Post called his music "vibrant, dramatic, communicative, much of it framed by extra-musical allusions that place it in a solid context." The New York premiere of Concerto No. 1, quasi una fantasia for violin by the New Juilliard Ensemble, Joel Sachs conductor, Tom Teh Chiu, soloist, with "sonic images memorable enough to take home" according to Village Voice critic Kyle Gann. His most recently released work on TNC Recordings, Symphony No. 1: "Sacred Monuments" was commented in ClassicsToday by David Hurwitz as "Powerfully imagined, clearly articulated, and quite moving…It's a very serious ambitious statement by a gifted artist, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it turns out to have more staying power than many other contemporary works by today's trendier composers."

Baley's musical training began in Germany and continued in the United States at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (now California Institute of the Arts), where his principal teachers were Earle C. Voorhies and Morris H. Ruger. A highly respected composer, Mr. Baley has received grants and commissions from numerous organizations. He is the recipient of the 1996 Shevchenko Prize for Music, awarded by the Ukrainian government and he was also awarded the State of Nevada Regents' Creative Award for 1996. Other commissions include the National Endowment for the Arts, New Juilliard Ensemble, Kiev Camerata, Project 1000 and the Winnipeg Symphony, Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, Nevada Symphony, Continuum, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, California E.A.R. Unit, and from many individual artists. He recently was named the Petro Jacyk Distinguised Research Fellow by Harvard Ykrainian Research Institute and will be at the university on residence completing his opera “Hunger.”

In 1989 Virko Baley co-produced and composed the music for the film, Swan Lake: The Zone. which won top awards at Cannes, the first Ukrainian film ever to receive a prize there. More recently, he wrote his second film score for another feature film, A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa, directed by the renown Ukrainian film director Yuri Illienko.

Mr. Baley's recordings include a trilogy of his chamber music: Orpheus Singing, CD-1087, featuring the violin concerto, Jurassic Bird, CD 1077, and Dreamtime CD 1090 - all on Cambria. In December 2002 TNC Classical label has releasing his Treny I-IV, TNC 1508 and Symphony No. 1: Sacred Monuments (with Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Virko Baley, conducting, TNC 1505; The song cycle "A Journey After Loves" is also being released this Fall on Arsis. He has also led the Kiev Camerata in recordings for over 15 CD's of orchestral music by composers ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, Ivan Karabyts, Valentin Silvestrov, Bernard Rands to Yevhen Stankovych. He was for number of years principal guest conductor and music advisor of the Kiev Camerata in Ukraine. Baley is founder, and was for many years, the conductor and music director of the Nevada Symphony Orchestra in Las Vegas. Virko Baley is currently Distinguished Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.