A retrospective of Liubov Mandziuk’s creative path: performance experience (on the occasion of the anniversary)

Section 1. Kharkiv Contexts

Abstract

Statement of the problem. The performance experience of the famous bandura player and teacher Liubov Mandziuk, who has been leading the bandura class at the Kharkiv I. P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts since 1989, has the great importance in the presentation of the Kharkiv bandura school. The artistic practice of the famous artist found vivid expression in concert and competition activities, in solo and ensemble directions, which subsequently influenced the copious and diverse teaching, educational, and scientific and methodological work of the talented musician and contributed to the popularization of bandura creativity in Kharkiv and throughout Ukraine. Objectives, methods and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to highlight the features of the creative path, the main stages of Liubov Mandziuk’s performance activity and to determine her role in the presentation of the Kharkiv bandura school, in particular, in its solo and ensemble varieties. The application of art study and historical approaches, comparative method and systematic analysis to the specifics of Liubov Mandziuk’s performance activities allowed us to reveal the significance and contribution of her performance experience to the development and presentation of bandura performance in Kharkiv and Ukraine as a whole, which represents the scientific novelty of this research. For the first time, the concert experience of the performer is analyzed in detail in the scientific aspect, from her student years to the present – the time of the implementation of highly professional artistic and performance tasks. Research results. Analyzing the features of Liubov Mandziuk’s creative path, two main stages of her performance activity can be distinguished. The first is associated with the acquisition of stage performance experience thanks to solo concerts during her studies at the Kyiv State Tchaikovsky Conservatory; with active popularization of the academic bandura repertoire – the first public presentation of works by foreign and domestic composers. As a student at the Conservatory, Mandziuk showed herself to be a versatile and flexible musician: she was a soloist as a bandura instrumentalist and vocalist of an ensemble of folk instruments under Viktor Maistrenko’s direction (Kyiv); she was singing a cappella, hosting the concert programs. As an innovator among academic bandura players, namely in a concert format, she performed J. S. Bach’s works in bandura arrangements, became the first performer of K. Miaskov’s works for bandura, in particular Variations on the Ukrainian folk song “Zhenchychok-brenchychok” and Sonatas No. 1, No. 3; the works by M. Dremliuha and others. The second stage is marked by a combination of concert and competition activities, both solo and ensemble as part of the Bandura Trio of the Kharkiv Regional Philharmonic (where L. Mandziuk took part from 1995 to 1998), and also pedagogical work, on the revival and modern renewal of the bandura class at the Department of Folk Instruments of Ukraine of the current Kharkiv I. P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts. A feature of this period is also the work on expanding the bandura repertoire through cooperation with leading Kharkiv composers Mykola Stetsiun, Anatoly and Ihor Haidenko, Larysa Donnyk, whose works became the basis of the Trio’s stage performances, whose concerts were demonstrating a high level of both, solo and ensemble, performance skill earned recognition from the musical community. Conclusion. L. Mandziuk’s performance manner is distinguished by special attention to the expressiveness of the melodic line, clear articulation, brightness of contrasts, and generally virtuoso perfection. All these qualities were reflected in her pedagogical activity, and also in the best way contributed to the spread of both, original bandura music and world-famous foreign classics in the performance of this bright original instrument, to the popularization of solo and ensemble bandura performance in Kharkiv and, in general, in Ukraine and abroad.