Julian Kytasty
Encyclopedia
Julian Kytasty is a Ukrainian-American composer
, singer, kobzar
, bandurist
, flute
player and conductor. He was born January 23 1958 in Detroit, Michigan
, in the family of refugees.
His first studies were in the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus
, in which his father, uncles and grandfather played in and conducted before him. He has been a resident of New York
since 1980. He moved there to found the New York Bandura Ensemble
(which also at various times included minimalist composer-bandurist Michael Andrec
, composer-lutenist Roman Turovsky-Savchuk
, vocalists Gisburg
and Natalia Honcharenko, and kobzar
Jurij Fedynskyj
), and began a career as a solo artist and bandura teacher that has taken him all over the world, from the Inuit lands to Patagonia. In 1989 he was invited to tour Ukraine, performing over a hundred concerts as a soloist as well as with a bandura ensemble.
Julian Kytasty holds a Masters degree in music
(Composition, Theory and Voice) from Concordia University in Montreal (his undergraduate studies were in military history). He is the author of original compositions and arrangements that have entered the standard repertoire of bandurists around the world.
He has also created and conducted avant-garde music for instrumental groups, choirs, and incidental music
for dance and theatrical performances, notably for New York's Yara Arts Group. Julian is a frequent speaker on the bandura and its tradition.
He has been a guest lecturer at many universities including Yale, Harvard, Wesleyan, and the University of California.
Julian has recorded for London's November Music label: Black Sea Winds - Music of the Kobzari of Ukraine. He also has collaborated with Canadian singer Alexis Kochan and their ensemble Paris to Kyiv on two CDs, Chinese pipa
player Wu Man
, Mariana Sadovska
, Brave Old World
and has recorded with his own group The Experimental Bandura Trio.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, singer, kobzar
Kobzar
A Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment.-Tradition:Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800s...
, bandurist
Bandurist
A bandurist is a person who plays the Ukrainian plucked string instrument known as the bandura.-Types of performers:There are a number of different types of bandurist who differ in their paricular choice of instrument, the specific repertoire they play and manner in which they approach their...
, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
player and conductor. He was born January 23 1958 in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, in the family of refugees.
Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus
The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus is a semi-professional male choir which accompanies itself with the multi-stringed Ukrainian folk instrument known as the bandura...
, in which his father, uncles and grandfather played in and conducted before him. He has been a resident of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
since 1980. He moved there to found the New York Bandura Ensemble
New York Bandura Ensemble
The New York Bandura Ensemble is a New York based music ensemble currently led by singer and bandurist Julian Kytasty. The ensemble is devoted to various forms and styles of Ukrainian music, from Renaissance and Baroque, through authentic folk, to contemporary and avantgarde music, presenting...
(which also at various times included minimalist composer-bandurist Michael Andrec
Michael Andrec
Michael Andrec is a Ukrainian-American bandurist and composer in a variety of styles, primarily for the bandura. He is an active member of Julian Kytasty's New York Bandura Ensemble, and the Experimental Bandura Trio.-References:...
, composer-lutenist Roman Turovsky-Savchuk
Roman Turovsky-Savchuk
Roman Turovsky-Savchuk is an American painter and lutenist-composer born in Ukraine.-Biography:Turovsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1961, when it was part of the Soviet Union. He studied art from an early age under his father, the painter Mikhail Turovsky and at the Shevchenko State Art School...
, vocalists Gisburg
Gisburg
Gisburg is a composer and singer born in Salzburg in Austria.She originally studied flute and studied with Dieter Schnebel, touring with his vocal group "Die Maulwerker"....
and Natalia Honcharenko, and kobzar
Kobzar
A Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment.-Tradition:Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800s...
Jurij Fedynskyj
Jurij Fedynskyj
Jurij Fedynskyj is a Ukrainian-American folk singer, kobzar and bandurist as well as a composer, producer, luthier, sound engineer, cultural activist and educator....
), and began a career as a solo artist and bandura teacher that has taken him all over the world, from the Inuit lands to Patagonia. In 1989 he was invited to tour Ukraine, performing over a hundred concerts as a soloist as well as with a bandura ensemble.
Julian Kytasty holds a Masters degree in music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
(Composition, Theory and Voice) from Concordia University in Montreal (his undergraduate studies were in military history). He is the author of original compositions and arrangements that have entered the standard repertoire of bandurists around the world.
He has also created and conducted avant-garde music for instrumental groups, choirs, and incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
for dance and theatrical performances, notably for New York's Yara Arts Group. Julian is a frequent speaker on the bandura and its tradition.
He has been a guest lecturer at many universities including Yale, Harvard, Wesleyan, and the University of California.
Pipa
The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...
player Wu Man
Wu Man
Wu Man is a Chinese pipa virtuoso and composer. Described as "the artist most responsible for bring the pipa to the Western World" by the Los Angeles Times, US-based, Chinese-born musician Wu Man has carved out a career creating and fostering projects that give this ancient Chinese instrument a...
, Mariana Sadovska
Mariana Sadovska
Mariana Sadovska is a German-based Ukrainian actress, singer, musician, recording artist and composer.-Life:Sadovska began her work with Les Kurbas Theater at Anatole Vasiliev's Festivals in St. Petersburg and Moscow. There she was tapped for the "Slavic Pilgrim Project" by Jerzy Grotowski in...
, Brave Old World
Brave Old World
Brave Old World is an international klezmer band formed in 1989.Members hail from the US and Germany. The Washington Post called Brave Old World "the revival's first supergroup. Every player is a virtuoso"....
and has recorded with his own group The Experimental Bandura Trio.
External links
- Yara Arts Group
- Selections from Black Sea Winds
- http://torban.org/kytasty
- http://torban.org/bandura-downtown