page_title: Peter Deriashnyj
section_title: Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble
hierarchical_section_title: Peter Deriashnyj / Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble
caption_attribution_description: Khotkevych Бandurist Еnsemble from Sydney. Australia, 1971 Photo taken by George Mishalow, - my Father.
context_page_description: Peter Deriashnyj is a Ukrainian Australian bandurist, composer of secular and sacred music, and choral conductor. He specializes in the Kharkiv style of bandura playing, but also plays folk and rock guitar.
  Deriashnyj grew up in Newcastle, New South Wales and moved to Sydney to further his professional career and musical education. He studied music theory, composition and voice in Sydney and later became conductor of the Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble, the Boyan Ukrainian Choir, the Suzwittia Women's Ensemble, the Strathfield Orthodox Parish choir; and musical director and conductor of the Ivasiuk Folk Ensemble.
context_section_description: In July 1968 he began to study the Kharkiv style of bandura from Hryhory Bazhul who in the early 1930s in Ukraine had studied bandura under Hnat Khotkevych. In 1969 he wrote his first composition for the bandura "Krai Kozachiy", followed by "Zaspivayu" to the words by Taras Shevchenko, and "Slava Otamanu". He also began to write arrangements of traditional songs for the Kharkiv style bandura. He gave up guitar for bandura, and in 1971 he became the artistic director of a small group of young bandurists originally formed by Hryhory Bazhul, the Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble of Sydney. Under Deriashnyj's direction the group expanded in numbers and included choral vocals in their performances. Their first solo concert took place in 1969 in Wollongong, dedicated to the Ukrainian bard Taras Shevchenko. In 1971 he also formed the Sydney School of Bandura to introduce the younger generation to the art of this instrument. Students of the School of Bandura were able to learn both the Kharkiv style and the Chernihiv style but since Kharkiv banduras were difficult to procure and the more plentiful Chernihiv type banduras were being brought from Ukraine, gradually more students played the Chernihiv style. The Sydney School of Bandura was the only one in Australia to teach the Kharkiv style.
  From 1970 the Bandurist Ensemble toured the eastern states in Australia with concerts and performances and as a quartet performed in Perth, Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne and Geelong. In 1978 the quartet recorded an LP entitled Bandura and Song. The members of the quartet were Neonila Babchenko-Deriashnyj (soprano), Lidia Deriashnyj-Beal (alto) and Peter Chochula (bass).
caption: The Hnat Khotkevych bandurist ensemble under the direction of P. Deriashnyj – Melbourne, 1971.
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