Leonid Haydamaka (19 April 1898 - †27 December 1991) was a bandura player, conductor, teacher, engineer, and composer.
He graduated from the Kharkiv Conservatory with a degree in cello in 1918, and in 1928 he studied bandura with Hnat Khotkevych. Since 1915, he has led an amateur mandolin group, an orchestra of Russian folk instruments, a Neapolitan orchestra, and a noise orchestra.
In 1922, he created a bandura band at the Metalist club, which he transformed into the first orchestra of Ukrainian folk instruments, and in 1934, the second orchestra of Ukrainian folk instruments at the Pioneers Club in Kharkiv. He taught the domra and bandura at the Kharkiv Workers' Conservatory and later at the Music and Drama Institute. Together with the master Herasym Sniehiryov, he created improved banduras of the Kharkiv type. In 1930, he founded a workshop for the mass production of Kharkiv-style banduras and other Ukrainian folk instruments.
He is the author of numerous articles and editor of music publications. During the war, he went to Germany, where he performed as a soloist and in an ensemble, the O. Veresai Brotherhood of Kobzars. After the war, he emigrated to the United States, where he lived and worked as an engineer in New York. He often performed in New York for the Classical Guitar Society, where he performed with Volodymyr Bobryi and Andreas Segovia.
He was a friend of the composer Vasyl Ovcharnek.
Pupils.
Perekop Ivanov, O. Nezovybatko, Heorhiy Kazakov and I. Filkenberg.
