At New York Bandura School, our mission is to inspire and empower young musicians to explore their creativity.
We believe that music education is essential to the development of young minds, and we work to provide a supportive and inclusive learning environment that fosters a lifelong love of music.
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Musically, our students will be encouraged to play a myriad of styles, from Ukrainian folk tunes, to classical arrangements, to covers of pop songs and jazz standards.
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In the future, we hope to create events and concerts in the folk and classical music circles of NYC and beyond, so that we can help foster a new generation of bandura enthusiasts. Planning program special monthly workshops with master bandura players, builders, and other musicians for the enrichment of our students’ learning experience.
Terenia Kytasty-Kuzma ​
Artistic Director
Ukrainian-American soprano Teryn Kuzma is a versatile performer and musician of classical, contemporary, musical theater, and folk repertoire. Over the past five years, Teryn has performed as a featured artist with The Ohio Light Opera, Hartford Opera Theater, UConn Opera Theater, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Berkshire Opera Festival, Lincoln Crossroads Music Festival, and the Ukrainian Art Song Project in Toronto.
In her solo recitals and special performances, she brings together the unique beauty of bandura with her voice. She has taught voice and bandura privately for several years, and has taught alongside other esteemed faculty members at summer bandura programs since 2017.
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Teryn is elated to be reviving the New York Bandura School alongside her dear friend Zoya Shepko and her uncle Julian Kytasty. In addition to her emerging singing career, Teryn is also devoted to maintaining the art of the bandura and Ukrainian music.
Originally from Connecticut, she began studying voice at the Hartt School of Music. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Connecticut and recently graduated with her Master’s Degree in Vocal Arts from the Bard Graduate Vocal Arts Program. There, she studied under esteemed faculty members Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Kayo Iwama, and Stephanie Blythe. For more information and upcoming events, visit www.terynkuzma.com
Multi-instrumentalist based in New York City, Zoyas passion for music started at a young age when she began studying violin and piano later on expanding to voice, cello, accordion, and bandura. Together with her siblings, they formed a band a Ukrainian folk band: Korinya, which has been performing for over 15 years.
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​The band has toured through Canada, the US and Ukraine, playing at weddings, events and festivals, including the Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), the Clearwater's Great Hudson Revival (New York, USA) and the Boyko Festival (Turka, Lviv, Ukraine) where in 2012, Korinya won first place.
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Korinya has 3 full-length studio albums: Korinya (2013), Zemlya (2017), and a live recording album: En Route Tour 2019. More recently, the group has co-billed with such distinguished artists as DakhaBrakha and David Byrne.
Zoya Shepko
Executive Director
Zoya is also a founding member of the Women’s Bandura Ensemble of North America and has taught bandura at many workshops, camps, and privately in NYC. With a Bachelor's degree in Business from SUNY New Paltz and industry experience, Zoya is excited to use her diverse administrative knowledge and practices in revitalizing the School for future bandurists.
Advisory Board Members
Julian Kytasty
John Lechicky
Lilia Pavlowsky