Nick Smereka-Hladio
Kobzarska Sich 2024 Music Director
Nick Smereka-Hladio is currently a music teacher for Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas. He is also an active member of Korinya Folk Band and the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of North America (Українська Капеля Бандуристів Північної Америки ім. Т. Шевченка). Nick was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he graduated from Duquesne University with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education. He is an experienced musician and performer with backgrounds as a bassist, educator, singer, conductor, and sound technician.
2024 Program Leads
Nadia Tarnawsky
Nadia Tarnawsky has been studying Eastern European singing techniques for nearly two decades with leading teachers including Mariana Sadowska, Nina Matvienko, Lilia Pavlovska, Albanian singer Merita Halili and Bulgarian singers Donka Koleva and Maria Bebelekova. Nadia Tarnawsky is a recipient of a Fulbright Award. She spent much of 2017 and 2018 in Ukraine collecting traditional Ukrainian folk music. Other awards include a Traditional Arts Fellowship from Artist Trust, a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship from the University of Kansas which allowed her to collect traditional folk songs and folklore in Ukraine as well as an Artist Support Residency from Jack Straw Productions which provided studio time to record an album with her ensemble Alchymeia. She has performed and recorded with dozens of ensembles, including the GRAMMY®-nominated Capella Romana choir, Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble, Ukrainian Village Voices, Dunava Ensemble, and more.
Melita Mudri-Zubacz
Melita Mudri-Zubacz holds both a bachelor and masters degree in theology (St. Paul University, Ottawa) as well as Bachelor and Masters degrees in music with a concentration in choral conducting (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg). Her thesis in theology explored historical evaluation of congregational singing in the Eastern Christian liturgical traditions. Her graduate work at University of Manitoba combined choral conducting with a historico-cultural Ukrainian study. Mudri-Zubacz has always been active in her work with music and liturgical studies, working extensively with community and church choirs, as well as publishing studies related to the Eastern Christian church music. At Fresno Pacific University she directs Crosswind, a contemporary Christian ensemble, and teaches Music Appreciation.
2024 Music Staff
Teryn Kytasty-Kuzma
Ukrainian-American soprano Teryn Kytasty-Kuzma is a versatile performer and musician of classical, contemporary, musical theater, and folk repertoire. Her 2024 engagements include premiering the lead role of “H’ala” in Ruinous Gods, an opera by Layale Chaker commissioned by Spoleto Festival USA, Nederlandse Reisopera, and Opera Wuppertal.
Terenia has made her mark as an artist in NYC working with On Site Opera, New Amsterdam Singers, Yara Arts Group, and performing in several fundraisers for Ukraine. In addition, she competed and was selected as a semifinalist in the Federation of the Art Song Competition, and the Wassyl Slipak Young Vocalists Competition. In addition to her emerging singing career, Teryn is devoted to maintaining the art of the bandura and Ukrainian music. She recently was awarded the role of Concertmaster for the Women’s Bandura Ensemble of North America, and has been working alongside Zoya Shepko to revive the New York Bandura School.
Teryn holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Connecticut and a Masters Degree from the Bard Graduate Vocal Arts Program.
Nick Deychakiwsky
Mykola Deychakiwsky began his bandura studies in 1972 with Hryhory Kytasty in Cleveland, Ohio. He played with the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus between 1974 and 1991, and again since 2017, from 2021 serves as its Concertmaster. During the 1970s-1980s, Mykola frequently taught individuals and directed bandura camps and ensembles. In 2012, he renewed this activity at the Bobriwka and Kobzarska Sich summer bandura camps and at the Detroit School of Bandura. He has written numerous arrangements and compositions for bandura ensembles. Mykola holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Theory from Baldwin Wallace College and a Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting from Kent State University.
Anastasiya Voytyuk
Anastasiya Voytyuk, known as BanduraGirl, is a talented bandura player, singer and
performer from Lviv, Ukraine. Leading the folk fusion band Troye Zillia, she skillfully blends
Ukrainian folk songs with global influences. Anastasiya`s deep exploration of Ukrainian
folklore provides a sense of strong roots and understanding of the role of the songs in
everyday life, serving as milestones and mediators. The impact of war dramatically altered her life, leading her from working in a refugee shelter to organizing charitable concerts abroad. Despite band members' separation, she collaborated with Polish musicians, primarily
performing in Poland and Germany, expressing hope for future return of their music to
Ukraine. In 2023, Anastasiya visited as a delegate from Ukraine Celtic Connections, English Folk Expo & WOMEX in 2023, participated in the Global Musician Workshop in Boston, USA, this summer finding inspiration in the fusion of cultures.
Taisa Kulyk
Junior Bandura Workshop Director
Taisa Kulyk is a banduristka based out of Philadelphia. She is a member of the Women's Bandura Ensemble of North America and has taught at the Hryhory Kytasty School of Bandura as well as Kobzarska Sich Bandura Camp. Taisa has performed at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Holodomor Remembrance Day in Philadelphia, Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival, Lakewood Public Library's Dear Ukraine Program, and other concerts.
Oksana Rodak
Oksana Rodak is a conductor, bandurist and music educator of broad experience. Oksana is a graduate of the University of Toronto where she received her Master of Music degree and obtained the Associate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She studied choral conducting and bandura at the National Music Academy of Ukraine where her professors were maestro Pavlo Muravsky, Vitaliy Lysenko, Serhiy Bashtan and Kostiantyn Novytsky. She also studied bandura with Hryhory Kytasty. Oksana has held positions as Artistic Director of Young Naperville Singers, Conductor with Anima, and Coordinator of Children’s Music at the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. She currently is Artistic Co-Director of the Women’s Bandura Ensemble of North America, Artistic Director of Spectrum Youth Singers, director of the ODUM Bandura School in Chicago, and more. Oksana began playing bandura in the Hnat Khotkevych ODUM Bandurists’ Ensemble of Toronto, founded by her mother, Walentina Rodak. She has been awarded the Master Teacher Diploma from the CME Institute for Choral Teacher Education and is winner of the Leslie Bell Conducting Prize.
Christina Hlutkowsky
Christina Hlutkowsky has been attending Kobzarska Sich since 2004 as a camper, counselor, and bandura instructor. She has been singing and playing bandura since age 10. Chrystia has taught private bandura lessons in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and at ODUM's Bandura Camp in London, Ontario. She holds a master's degree in Clinical Child Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University, where she is working on her doctorate. Chrystia is also a member and President-Elect of the Women's Bandura Ensemble of North America and has sung with the Zorya Ukrainian Female Vocal Ensemble in Cleveland, Ohio.
Larissa Fedoryka
Larissa Fedoryka grew up performing with her family, The Fedoryka Family Ensemble, bringing her to venues such as the Kennedy Center and the Wolf Trap Family Festival. She received her Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2017 from the University of California Santa Barbara. While in California, she freelanced as a cellist, playing with local orchestras, recording as a session cellist and touring with Latin pop icon Marco Antonio Solis and Gloria Trevi. She most recently toured with Celtic-Americana band Scythian, holding down the back-line as cellist and electric bass guitarist. Currently residing in Front Royal, Virginia, Larissa coaches chamber ensembles and runs a private studio while establishing her house concert series "Painting with Music" as well as the Green Mantle Arts and Lecture Series.