Learn about the history of our team, and our creative biography

In 1979, the leading musical ensemble of Ukraine was established as the State Wind Orchestra on the initiative of the Union of Composers of Ukraine. Now, in our country, it still is the first and only civilian brass band of such level and status.

The foundation of the State Brass Band was intended to enrich the artistic palette of national culture, to promote the best examples of classical music heritage, to develop the academic genre of wind music in Ukraine.

In 2004 the Band obtained the Academic status for its performing mastery. The same year, the first CD of live recordings of the State Academic Brass Band of Ukraine was released. In 2008 the Band obtained the highest artistic status in Ukraine for its significant creative achievements. By Decree of the President of Ukraine it became National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine (NASB).

In 2009, National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine recorded a jubilee CD featuring the best works from the orchestra's repertoire.

Formation of the original repertoire of the orchestra, in which a significant place would be occupied by the works of Ukrainian composers, in particular, contemporary authors, is the main creative task of the team.

Throughout the years the orchestra productively cooperated with leading Ukrainian composers, including A.Shtoharenko, L.Kolodub, V.Podvala, I.Karabyts, P.Petrov-Omelchuk, O.Shchetynskyi, and O.Bezborodko. The basis of the repertoire of NASB is composed of works by classical musicians: J.S.Bach, L.V.Beethoven, G.Verdi, Ch.Gounod, R.Wagner, G.Holst. The concert programs of National Academic Symphonic Band include Ukrainian music - works by M.Lysenko, K.Stetsenko, B.Liatoshynskyi, A.Shtoharenko, A.Kos-Anatolsky, L.Kolodub, I.Shamo and many others.

It was the National Symphonic Band of Ukraine that, for the first time in its genre, gave concert performances of opera "Poet" by Ukrainian composer Levko Kolodub (about the national prophet Taras Shevchenko), and the comic opera "The Spanish Hour" by Maurice Ravel.

In its active concert repertoire the Band presents all musical genres - from Baroque to Jazz music. Particular attention is paid to the preparation of thematic concert programs, such as “Melodies of the native land”, “Ukrainian Rhapsody”, “Made in Ukraine”, “Music of the Strauss family”, “In honor of Shakespeare”, “Operetta, Operetta”, “Spanish Motifs”, “Traveling the World”, “Waltz, Waltz, Waltz”, “Hits of the Twentieth Century”, “Dances of the World”, “Latin Style”, “Ennio Morricone”, “John Williams”, “Movie Music” and others.

Leading Ukrainian soloists and vocalists have actively collaborated with the orchestra: People's Artists of Ukraine Svitlana Dobronravova, Valeriy Buymister, Femiy Mustafayev, Iryna Dats, Stepan Fitsych, Ivan Popovych, Hryhoriy Harkusha, Mykola Koval, Oleksandr Vasylenko, Honored Artists of Ukraine Liudmyla Davymuka, Iryna Zabchenko, Irena Zakharko, Halyna Titova, Valentyna Matiushenko, Yelyzaveta Lipitiuk, Zhanna Bodnaruk, Olga Chubareva, Lesya and Galina Telniuk, young laureates and diploma winners of international competitions - soloists of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine Ruslana Shyshkina, Anatoliy Yurchenko, Serhiy Bortnyk, Viktor Bezkorovainyi, Dmytro Ivanchenko, Andriy Bondarenko.

The Band has successfully performed with soloists-instrumentalists, including the Honored Artist of Ukraine Yuriy Kot (piano), winners of international piano competitions Olena Voronova and Antoniy Baryshevskyi, Andriy Ilkiv (trumpet), an American of Korean origin Grace O (piano), the world-famous Canadian musician Richard Stewart (trumpet), Norwegian Oysten Baadsvik (tuba), French Bastien Boma (euphonium), American pianist David Witten, clarinet soloist of the Royal Brussels Symphony Orchestra of Radio and Television Hedwig Swimberg, and trombonist of the Austrian brass ensemble Mnozil Brass Zoltan Kisz.

The orchestra was conducted by Professor Stephen Chenette of the University of Toronto (Canada) and conductor, composer, professor of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels Alain Crippen. The National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine had creative collaborations with well-known Ukrainian conductors: People's Artist of Ukraine Ivan Hamkalo, Honored Artist of Ukraine Victoria Zhadko, Honored Artist of Ukraine Oleksiy Roshchak, Oleksiy Bazhenov, Mykhailo Moroz, Petro Tovstukha, and Volodymyr Runchak.

The orchestra was the first to record the National Anthem of Ukraine which was broadcast every morning by the National Radio Company of Ukraine. The orchestra's recordings were included in the funds of the National Television and Radio Company of Ukraine and were released in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the Netherlands. The National Radio has aired a series of programs dedicated to the orchestra's work, and the orchestra regularly participates in programs of the National Television, in particular, it has been a participant in television programs on 1+1 and Inter TV channels. NASB recorded music for the films "Bishop Andriy" (2008) and "Ukrainian Revolution" (2012).

The orchestra took part in the opening of the XV Music Festival “Stravinsky and Ukraine” in Lubart's castle in Lutsk. NASB was a participant of the famous Kyiv Music Fest.

NASB has been perfroming brass music in many Ukrainian cities. The ensemble has repeatedly successfully represented the national musical art abroad, touring Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Slovenia, and participating in brass music festivals in the Netherlands and Germany.

The geography of the orchestra's cooperation has always been wide and continues to grow in recent years.
The Big Band of NASB, together with the Vincent Bourgeois Trio (France), took part in "French Spring in Ukraine" festival. The event was supported by Embassy of the French Republic in Ukraine and the French Institute in Ukraine in 2019.

Supported by Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Ukraine, a concert “Music Unites the World” was held under the direction of Vytautas Pilibavicius (Lithuania) and Oleksiy ROSCHAK (2022).

In 2023, for the FIRST time music by Edward Elgar and James Barnes was successfully performed in Ukraine.

The work of the collective can be characterized by the winged lines of the prominent Ukrainian poet of the sixties Ivan Svitlychnyi: “Life is short, but art is eternal”.



E-mail: info@brassband.org.ua

General Director Oleksandr Pirozhenko
E-mail: pirozhenko.o@gmail.com

mob. 050-3531314
tel. (044) 278-64-71