Convention Artist: Tetiana Khomenko
Balalaika Soloist: Tetiana Khomenko
Balalaika Soloist Tetiana (Tanya) Khomenko graduated with honors from the Glier Institute of Music in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2004. She studied at the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy and was active in the folk department of the Academy, graduating in 2012 as Master of Music with honors as a concert performer and teacher of balalaika. From 2000 to 2005, she was a soloist of the National Orchestra of Folk Instruments which performed in several European countries and Iran. She currently is the concertmaster of the orchestra of folk instruments of the Glier Kyiv Institute of Music, while also performing and teaching at many venues.
Tetiana loves her quartet Bravo Band, which she calls the “Hipsters of Folk Music.” Performing music from the Renaissance to the present day, the group appears regularly at concerts and festivals, and in June 2013 won the International competition “Samorodki”. Tetiana attended her first BDAA convention in 2014 in Kalamazoo, and in 2015 and 2017 she was the BDAA’s balalaika guest artist.
In May 2016, Tetiana created The Balalaika and Piano Duo (B&P Duo) with a pianist Vitaly Lyman in Ukraine. Their repertoire encompasses music from the Renaissance to present-day compositions, from tango to folk music and jazz. The Balalaika and Piano Duo has participated in concerts, festivals, radio, and TV shows and has traveled throughout Ukraine and abroad. One of their biggest appearances in the United States was in 2017 during a two-month tour when Tetiana and Vitaly had concerts in Indiana, Washington D.C., Virginia, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Arizona, Georgia, and California. During the tour, Tetiana gave presentations and workshops for K-12 and college students at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax, VA, Indiana University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
At the 2022 convention, Tetiana will teach balalaika technique, direct the balalaika choir, and perform a mini-concert for convention guests and at the Festival Concert Finale