Hryhory Kytasty is an impressive example of the power, immortality, and feat of the kobzar tradition because he appeared on this stage of doom at a time when there seemed to be little room for artistic expression. The First World War, the long, bloody, and reckless revolution, the Second Global Total War, the breaking of borders, beliefs, and traditions. In this confrontation of forces, as if by a miracle, a whole line of very prominent successors and creators of kobza art appears, and among them, first of all, Hryhory Kytasty.
Ulas Samchuk, writer
Hryhory Kytasty was a bandura player, composer, conductor, and director of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus in the United States.
He was born in 1907 in Kobeliaky, Poltava region, to a peasant family of Cossack origin. He got his specialized education at the Poltava Music College and the Mykola Lysenko Music and Drama Institute in Kyiv, where he mastered playing the bandura, took violin and cornet lessons, gained conducting skills, and studied composition. While still studying, in 1934, he became a member of the Kyiv Chapel, and in 1935, Hryhory Kytasty became a chorister and concertmaster of the State Bandurist Capella.
Following the outbreak of the German-Soviet war, the State Bandurist Capella was dissolved. Several of the group’s artists died in action, while Hryhory was taken prisoner. He later escaped and returned to Kyiv, as he wrote in his memoirs. Kytasty found 16 musicians in Kyiv and headed the newly created Taras Shevchenko Bandura Chorus. With it, he toured Kyiv region, Volyn, and Galicia. In 1942, the Germans deported the chapel to Germany, placing the members in camps for Ostarbeiters.
In 1949, Kytasty emigrated to the United States with his chapel. He lived in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and San Diego. In America, he continued his creative work as a conductor and artistic director of the Taras Shevchenko Bandura Chorus, which he led (with interruptions) until the end of his life. Together with the Chorus, Kytasty held a series of concerts in the cities of the United States and Canada, which were always a great success. In 1958, he toured Europe, and in 1981, Australia. He organized kobza camps where he taught bandura playing.
Kytasty left behind a large composer’s heritage. These are instrumental works for the bandura, arrangements of folk songs for the choir, and his author songs. He recorded two albums of his compositions and several albums with performances by the Capella.
The artist died in 1984 in San Diego (California). He was buried at the Ukrainian Orthodox cemetery near the St. Andrew’s Memorial Church (New Jersey) in South Bound Brook.
