Hryhorii Kytastyi

• Honorific Prefix — Hero of Ukraine • Name — Hryhory Kytasty • Born — 17 January 1907 • Birthplace — Kobeliaky, Russian Empire • Died — 6 April 1984 • Occupation — Composer, conductor • Instruments — Bandura • Past Member Of — * Kyiv Bandurist Capella • Shevchenko Bandurist Capella • Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus

Hryhory Kytasty was born in the town of Kobeliaky, Poltava Governorate. After completing initial music studies at the Poltava Musical College, Kytasty studied under Mykola Hrinchenko, Levko Revutsky and Viktor Kosenko at the Institute of Music and Drama named after Mykola Lysenko from 1930 to 1935 in Kyiv. He completed his studies there in composing and choral conducting. He also learned to play the bandura while studying in Kyiv.

After graduating in 1935, he was hired by the Kyiv Bandurist Capella. In 1937 he became concertmaster and in 1939 the assistant conductor. During this time Kytasty's first arrangements and compositions began to be played and recorded by the Capella. With the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the Kyiv State Bandurist Capella was disbanded and its members were mobilized to the front. Although recruited, H. Kytasty was able to avoid being sent to the front.

The members of the Kyiv Bandurist Capella who had survived, during the German occupation re-established a professional ensemble. In 1942 Kytasty became the artistic director of this reconstituted Bandurist Capella which in time became known as the Shevchenko Bandurist Capella. During the course of the war the Capella toured Western Ukraine and Volyn and was later in Germany to perform for the Ost-arbeiters. In Germany, after initially being incarcerated in Hamburg, they were released to perform for the Ostarbeiters housed in special work camps in order help raise the productivity of those who worked in near slave-like conditions. It is in Germany that the Shevchenko Bandurist Capella finds itself at the end of the war. Because of the brutal manner in which Ukrainian artists were treated under the Stalinist regime, and the fact that many bandurists had suffered directly or had witnessed unfounded reprisals under the Soviet regime, the Chorus as a group decided not to return to Soviet Ukraine and in 1949 emigrated as a group to the United States. Another significant reason for emigration was justified fear of persecution for collaborating with the Nazis during the occupation.

• Illustration — Hryhoriy Kytasty's grave in South Bound Brook, New Jersey. In 1949 H. Kytasty emigrated to the United States, settling initially with the rest of the Chorus in Detroit. In the United States the Shevchenko Bandurist Capella changed its name in English to the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus. In 1958, H. Kytasty toured Europe as a co-director with Volodymir Bozhyk of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus. Although the tour was an artistic success, it did not allow the group to return to professional status. Upon returning to the United States, Kytasty left the Chorus and moved to San Diego and continued composing. In 1964 he left San Diego and moved first to Minneapolis and then Chicago, finally settling in Cleveland. In 1967 he returned to the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus as conductor and music director, a post he held until his death in 1984 due to cancer. At his return in 1967, he brought to the Chorus his monumental work Battle of Konotop, which was recorded and performed on tour to celebrate the Chorus' 50th Anniversary in 1968. H. Kytasty is buried at a large Ukrainian Orthodox cemetery behind St. Andrew's Memorial Church in South Bound Brook, New Jersey. His grave can be found in the front row on the left side of the cemetery (opposite the parking lot). Notable students of Hryhory Kytasty were his sons Victor Kytasty, Andrij Kytasty, Mykola Deychakiwsky, Marko Farion among others.