Poltava Bandurist Capella

The Poltava Bandurist Capella was vocal-instrumental ensemble who accompanied themselves on the multi-stringed Ukrainian bandura. It was initially established in February 1925, based on a male church choir who sang in the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Cathedral in Poltava under the direction of Fedir (Khvedir) Popadych. The ensemble was disbanded in October 1934.

The Capella's first rehearsals as a bandurist ensemble were sponsored by the HubSelBud (Regional Village Housing organization). The formation of the Poltava Bandurist Capella was inspired by a visit to Poltava by the kobzar (itinerant Ukrainian bard) Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko who was also their first instructor. It was also inspired by a performance by the Kyiv Bandurist Capella which had performed in Poltava and also information in the press of the establishment of a bandura school and Bandurist Capella in Prague.

Initially the members of the group played on borrowed instruments. One of the major problems of these instruments was trying to keep them in tune as many had wooden tuning pegs which were not reliable and were difficult to finely tune the instrument. Initially they performed part of their concerts without bandura accompaniment, sometimes accompanied by the piano. The only member of the Capella who had prior experience with the bandura was Danylo Pika who had taken some bandura lessons from Opanas Slastion.

From 21 December 1926 until 1 October 1928, the ensemble was known as the "Bandura Studio of the Poltava Region Bureau of Political Education". Its first performance took place at the opening of the Taras Shevchenko monument in Poltava in 1926.

After a successful performance in Odessa the eleven members of the Capella ordered new banduras and in 1927 received new semi-chromatic Kiev type instruments made by Poltava bandura maker M. Domnenko.

In 1928, despite the amateur status of the Capella and the fact that they could only perform in their free time from work, the Capella had some 85 works in their repertoire which they accompanied by bandura and piano. The ensemble gave 249 concerts before 122,825 listeners performing in Poltava and regions, the Donbas, Odessa, Kharkiv, Kremenchuk, Romny, Kherson and Mykolayiv.

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