Founder & Director

Orest Chornomaz

My Bandura Story

My bandura journey began in 2003 in Toronto when, as a 12-year-old, I started to take bandura lessons from world-renowned bandurist Dr. Victor Mishalow. Just a year later, I joined the Canadian Bandurist Capella and, as a bandurist, performed at my first bandura concert in September 2004 in Burlington, Ontario. Over the years, I have had the privilege to learn from acclaimed bandurists and musicians like Volodymyr Voyt, Yurij Petlura, Olha Herasymenko, Oleh Mahlay, Oleh Sozansky, Andriy Birko, Julian Kytasty, Oksana Rodak, Andriy Dmytrovych and Oksana Zelinska-Shevchuk. I have instructed bandura in the GTA for over 10 years at the Toronto Bandura School and the Oakville Ukrainian School and continue to teach privately today. I have also instructed at a number of bandura-focused summer music camps like the Kobzarska Sich Bandura Camp (Emlenton, PA), ODUM Bandura Camp (London, ON), Bandura at Bobriwka (Colebrook, CT), and the Litnia Zustrich Bandura Camp (Toronto, ON).

As a past member, board member, and event manager of the Canadian Bandurist Capella, I have project-managed two recordings and organized over 30 bandura concerts, including concert tours across Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 2016, together with close friends and bandurists Ivan Dusanowskyj, Borys Ostapienko and Oleksander Petlura, I cofounded an instrumental bandura quartet – Bandura Beyond Borders. Later that year, the quartet had its debut performance after being invited by Julian Kytasty to perform in the Bandura Downtown Concert Series at The Ukrainian Museum in New York City. As part of Bandura Beyond Borders, I performed at the International Bandura Forum in 2018 in Kyiv, Ukraine, and several cities across Ontario, and organized the Bandura for Ukraine Benefit Concert in 2022 in support of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

Toronto Bandura Festival (TBF) is a passion project I wanted to realize for many years. The bandura has instilled in me a love for Ukrainian music and culture, given me friendships I will cherish for the rest of my life, and helped me preserve my Ukrainian heritage. This project is my way of giving back to this instrument and the Bandura community.