page_title: Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus
section_title: United States
hierarchical_section_title: Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus / History / United States
caption_attribution_description: English: kobzarska sich 2010
context_page_description: The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus is a semi-professional male choir which accompanies itself with the multi-stringed Ukrainian folk instrument known as the bandura. It traces its roots to Ukraine in 1918 and has been based in the USA since 1949.
context_section_description: In 1949 the chorus emigrated to the United States, settling as a group in Detroit. Initially it toured North America attempting to retain a professional performing status; however, this became economically unviable without radically changing the repertoire and artistic direction of the group. The decision was made to not compromise the groups artistic integrity. As a result, the chorus changed from a professional to a semi-professional status, touring North America for only a few weeks each year.
  In 1958 the chorus toured Europe giving concerts in Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and England. Despite the highly successful reviews of the chorus's performances, the tour was not an economic success. As a result, it was not able to return to a fully professional status. The chorus was left in substantial debt and the conductors Volodymyr Bozhyk and Hryhory Kytasty both left the group after the tour.
  On return, the artistic directorship was assumed by the assistant conductor Petro Potapenko.
  The debt was paid off almost single-handedly by the chorus's manager Peter Honcharenko who also kept the chorus intact as a viable performing ensemble.
  The early 1960s saw a crisis in the artistic leadership of the group. It was difficult to find a conductor who not only could direct a chorus, but was knowledgeable in Ukrainian music traditions and the bandura, and who could compose, arrange and orchestrate for such a unique group. These problems were overcome by the administrative genius of Peter Honcharenko who devised an artistic council that would delegate many of the finer tasks among the membership of the group to be led by a professional conductor. As a result, the group was able to survive this difficult period finding a new purpose for the promotion of Ukrainian music, primarily to the many Ukrainian community enclaves in North America. The establishment of a charitable foundation to help fund the activities of the chorus and the management of their own recordings also helped to once again put the group on a solid financial foundation.
  In 1968 Hryhory Kytasty returned to the artistic directorship of the chorus. With new-found energy he enriched the repertoire of the ensemble with new compositions and arrangements and trained a new generation of bandurists, many who had been born in North America. A new and successful self-funding formula was developed by the chorus's manager. The capella would regularly, usually bi-yearly, release a new record and go on tour promoting the recording, alternating from east or west coasts of North America. Summer music camps which focused on intensive training in bandura playing and other aspects of Ukrainian music became the chorus's conservatory providing a sources for instrumenatlists for the ensemble. Many noted bandurist members taught at these camps, workshops and seminars including: Peter Kytasty, Viktor Kytasty, Julian Kytasty, Marko Farion, Andrew Kytasty, Mykola Deychakiwsky, Michael Serdiuk and Taras Pavlovsky.
  In 1981, the chorus under the direction of H. Kytasty toured Australia.
  After the passing of Hryhory Kytasty in 1984, Wolodymyr Kolesnyk was invited to direct the ensemble. Kolesnyk was originally a graduate of the Kyiv conservatory in both folk instrument performance and conducting and before his defection had risen to the position of artistic director of the Kiev Opera. Kolesnyk elevated the chorus to a new professional level in both vocal and instrumental performance. Under his directorship the chorus toured Ukraine twice in 1991 and 1993 and received the prestigious Shevchenko award from the Ukrainian government.
  In 1996 Oleh Mahlay took over the artistic directorship of the chorus, becoming the youngest artistic director in the chorus's history. Under his leadership the chorus toured Ukraine twice, as well as North America and Europe and re-energizied the membership. His numerous recordings with the chorus include a Christmas repertoire, a Divine Liturgy, and Hryhory Kytasty's "Battle of Konotop" which have done much to strengthen 
caption: Participants in the Annual Bandura Camp in 2010 held under the auspices of the UBC
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