Elina Kulak
Elina Kulak is a Ukrainian violinist who is studying at the Bonporti Conservatory in Trento Italy. She recently graduated from Glinka Conservatory in Ukraine after completing her education at the Central Music School.
Elina has won various prizes and awards such as a certificate of participation in the eighth Bavhakademie Ukraine, first prize in the competition of student ensembles in sight reading “La prima vista,” participation in the all-Ukrainian competition of the performers on bowed string instruments “Brusova,” first prize in the all-Ukrainian Revutsky festival-competition of young composers, prize in the Stradivarius Dnipro competition for young instrumental musicians, an award for participation in the second stage of the Borys Lyatoshynsky all-Ukrainian competition of young composers, and first prize in the regional competition of young composers “Cathedrals of our souls” (Собори наших душ) in nominations “Academy music,” “Chamber instrumental music.”
Elina has toured with the Kharkiv Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra, participated in the Kharkiv music festival, Small baroque academy, and a strings pop quartet “Mom’s Band.” She also teaches violin privately to children and speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English, and Italian fluently.
Due to the war on Ukraine, Elina is currently residing in Italy.
Irina Marchuk
Irina Marchuk is a twenty-one years old Ukrainian violinist born in the city of Chernivtsi. She is a passionate musician and experienced as a soloist, orchestral player, and chamber musician. Irina just completed her second year at the Lviv National Academy of Music in the class of Igor Pulatiuk after having graduated from Sidor Vorobkevych Conservatory.
She has received prizes in multiple competitions including first prize in the Golden Violin International Competition and third prize Chords of Khortytsa International Competition. Her ensemble also won first prize in the Magic Strings Competition in Chernivtsi.
Currently, Irina has not had the opportunity to fully continue her studies as she is hiding in Germany from the war in Ukraine.
Nadia Stadna
Nadia Stadna is a pianist and a graduate student at the Conservatory of Trento. She graduated from Glier Municipal Academy of Music in 2021 and was accepted into the National Music Academy of Ukraine in the same year.
Nadia has won multiple competitions, including first prize in the Chopin Spring International Piano Competition in Lutsk, Ukraine. She also received second prize in the VI Interpretation of Modern Music Opened Piano Competition in Kyiv, along with being a finalist in the III International Competition for young musicians “Палескі агеньчык,” in Belarus.
Nadia has participated in masterclasses taught by Roman Lopatynsky, Vadim Gladkov, and Oleksandr Leonov.
Due to the war on Ukraine, Nadia currently resides in Italy.
Anna Serohina
Anna Serohina is a flutist currently in her first year at the Glier Municipal Music Academy woodwinds department. At only twenty years old, Anna has won multiple prizes in national, international, and online competitions in countries such as Ukraine, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Romania. She has also been a participant in the Erasmus+ program in Poland.
Outside of school, Anna has appeared in a film as an orchestra musician, music video, and recording of an album. She is also a flute instructor at a children’s music school.
Anna Serohina currently resides in Ukraine.
Sofiia Yavorska
Sofiia Yavorska is a nine-teen-year-old Ukrainian violinist who recently graduated from the Stolyarsky Secondary Special Boarding School in Odesa under the instruction of A. M. Lapteva. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree at Kyiv Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of M. B. Kotorovych.
Sofiia won first prize in Constellation International Art Competition and third prize in Bogodar Kotorovych Festival competition. She also received a diploma from the David Oistrakh Competition. In addition, she took part in masterclasses with distinguished professors such as Zoya Nevgodovskaya (Ukraine, Germany), Gernot Winischhofer (Austria), Dora Schwarzberg (Ukraine, Austria).
Due to the war on Ukraine, Sofiia is currently residing in Estonia.
Kateryna Kolosok
Kateryna Kolosok is a violinist born in 1999 in Bila Tserkva. She received her Bachelor’s degree at the R. Glier Municipal Academy of Music in 2019 and is currently a graduate student at the same school in the class of Andrii Pavlov. Kateryna had taken part in the baroque orchestra Kryla Open Opera Ukraine project.
She has also participated in master classes of Denis Severin and Nicholas Parle as a member of the chamber ensemble.
Due to the war on Ukraine, Kateryna currently resides in Berlin.
Hanna Sava
Hanna Sava is a young violinist in her second year of studies at the Kyiv Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of Professor Nina Sivachenko. She graduated from Music School No1 in Chernivtsi in the class of teacher Lyudmila Shapko and Sidor Vorobkevych College of Arts in the class of Viktor Paranyuk.
Hanna has attended masterclasses given by Oleh Krysa, Aleksey Semenenko, and others. In addition, she has been a violinist in the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and the Symphony Orchestra of the UNTAM Tchaikovsky.
Due to the war on Ukraine, Hanna is currently residing in Germany.
Yulia Sozanska
Yulia Sozanska, a 21-year old violinist, was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine and moved to London to study for a Bachelors degree in Royal Academy of Music with professor György Pauk, then professor Robin Wilson on a full scholarship. She has started playing the violin at the age of 5. During her studies at Chernivtsi Music School no.1 and Chernivtsi College of Arts has been a laureate and winner of various Ukrainian and international competitions, the most recent one – International Competition of Young Musicians in Zagreb, Croatia (1st prize and Special Award). Her soloist repertoire consists of violin concertos by Bruch, Saint-Saëns, Mendelssohn, Vieuxtemps, Khachaturian and Sibelius performed with Chernivtsi Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed solo with an orchestra in Clara Schumann Hall (Frankfurt) and Robert-Schumann-Saal (Düsseldorf) in 2022. Yulia is a former member of Chernivtsi Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, first violins group (2020-2022) and a current member of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine under the baton of Oksana Lyniv, first violins group (2020-now).
Olena Potarykina
The bassoonist Olena Potarykina was born in October 2003 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. At the age of nine she began playing the bassoon. She studied with Prof. Harii Abadjian. Olena studied at the Kharkiv Special School of Music from 2009 to 2020. During this time she took part in various competitions and festivals. From 2019 to 2021 she studies at Kharkiv I.Kotlyarevsky University of Arts. Won 1st prize at the Kharkiv Assemblies competition and received an Emcy prize. She also played a lot in the orchestra (2019-2021 Solo bassoon Slobozansky Youth Symphony Orchestra, Solo bassoon YSOU (Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine), Kharkiv Music Festival Orchestra, temporary assistant in the Cologne Chamber Orchestra. She has also played with famous conductors and soloist (Oksana Lyniv, Vitaliy Alekseenok, Kirill Karabits, Pierre-Laurent Aimard) She has also played as a soloist with orchestra. For example with Slobozansky Symphony Orchestra and with National Radio Orchestra of Ukraine. Since October 2021 Olena study at the Folkwang University of the Arts with Prof. Malte Refardt. During her studies here she played projects, for example: Orchester Zentrum NRW (conductor Önder Baloglu).
Dmitro Cherepov
Dmytro Cherepov was born in 2003 in Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2022 has finished his violin studies in R. Gliere Music Academy with professor A. Pavlov and started studying in Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with professor Mari Tampere-Bezrodny. Dmytro participated in many solo and orchestra concerts with soloists as Daniel Lozakovich, Andrej Bielow, Anna-Liisa Bezrodny, Marcel Johannes Kits, and conductors Oksana Lyniv, Arvo Volmer, Olari Elts, Mārtiņš Ozoliņš on stages as Berlin philharmonic, Tomaskirche Leipzig (Bachfest) Köln Philharmonic, Parlament Düsseldorf, Bonn Opera (Beethovenfest Bonn), Hannover Opera, Estonian National Opera and Estonia Kontserdisaal. Also performed as a first violin in Quartet Mariupol in Moers (Germany) and Canna (Italy) on festival “Incontri di Canna” 2022. In 2019 Dmytro participated in International Youth symphony orchestra in San Diego, USA. Since 2020 he is a member of Youth symphony orchestra of Ukraine under the direction of Oksana Lyniv. In 2023 Dmytro joined I violin section in Estonian National Opera Orchestra.
Hanna Makarenko, oboe
Hanna Makarenko is an oboist and student at the “Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber” in Dresden, Germany in Celine Moinet’s oboe class.
Hanna is 21 years old and comes from Kharkov, Ukraine.
There she graduated from a specialized music school and entered the National University of the Arts in Kharkov in 2020.Due to the war she was forced to move to Dresden.She is currently completing her bachelor’s degree there. Anna has worked in the youth orchestra “Slobozhansky” and plays in the Youth Orchestra of Ukraine (YSOU) under the direction of Oksana Lyniv, where she took part in joint projects with the Youth Orchestra of Germany (BJO) and played on stages such as: Berlin Philharmonic, Philharmonie Cologne, Hannover and so on Won 1st place at the “Charkiw Assemblies” competition, Ukraine and 1st place at the “Nouvelles Étoiles” competition, France.
Anna took part in master classes by Emmanuel Abbühl, Enrico Cossio, Paolo Pollastri, Lorenzo Masala and others.
Khrystyna Mykhailichenko, piano
Khrystyna Mykhailichenko is a young Ukrainian pianist who was born in Simferopol (Crimea, Ukraine). She performs with exceptional virtuosity throughout the world, in prestigious concert halls and music festivals. Her career began in early childhood when she displayed such tremendous talent in classical music that she started performing when she was only 5 years old. Since then, she has won European international piano competitions, mastered an extensive piano repertoire with multiple recital programs, and has been a soloist with symphony orchestras worldwide more than 40 times. She was 8 when her special prize in a competition led to her premiere solo performance with a full orchestra in Sevastopol, Crimea.
Soon after, the Russians occupied Crimea and Khrystyna’s family was forced to flee to the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. She studied at Kyiv State Music Lyceum under Nataliia Tolpygo-Rusina until 2022. In March 2016, after winning three International Competitions in one month, 10-year-old Khrystyna met another music professor, Alexei Grynyuk, the international pianist who became her teacher and mentor. He began working with her in masterclasses at the Vladimir Horowitz Memorial Summer Academy in Kyiv and after the first lessons he said: “Khrystyna’s gift is stronger and more powerful than anyone I’ve ever been able to work with before. This is a performer of the highest level.” His influence has added depth and emotional maturity to her approach to complex, challenging pieces some of which are rarely tackled by older pianists. Despite her success in competitions, Khrystyna with her family and teachers decided to suspend competitive activities, believing that she could develop better as a solo artist without the distraction of competitions. She stopped competing in 2016 and instead,she has concentrated on growing a formidable piano repertoire which has been heard all over the world. Khrystyna has performed recitals at the International Summer Music Academy in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in Ukraine, the international festival “Art Dialogue” in Switzerland, LvivMozArt International festival in Ukraine, the International Chamber Music Course and festival “Musica Mundi” in Belgium, the 69th Young Artists festival in Germany, the 9th International Chopin Master Classes festival in Poland, the 4th Frost Chopin festival in the USA among many others. The venues include Salle Cortot in Paris, Bozar Hall in Brussels, the Music Academies of Bruges, Antwerp, Krakow, Bremen, Gariunu concert hall in Vilnius, the University of Miami and Broward Centre for the Performing Arts, the World Bank in Washington DC, the UN residence in New York and all the National Philharmonics of Ukraine. At the outbreak of war in February 2022, Khrystyna fled to Poland with her mother and sister before settling in the UK in June. As well as continuing to travel extensively for performances, she was refining her studies with Graham Scott at the Junior Department in Royal Northern College of Music during the year 2022-2023, and had become a full-time student at the Royal Academy of Music in September under Professor Joanna MacGregor.
Havryl Sydoryk, piano
Fifteen-year-old composer and pianist Havryl Sydoryk plays in addition to the piano violin, guitar and flute. In Ukraine he studied piano in the classical department of the School of Jazz and Pop Art under the guidance of Rada Zagorska, but he had to leave his homeland because of the war. Havryl lived in France for one year and studied at the Paris Regional Conservatory, but wanting to acquire a more professional music education, he came to the School of Music and Ballet in Estonia. He is currently living in Estonia for one year and is studying piano under the guidance of Age Juurikas and composition under the guidance of Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes. Havryl successfully participates in various competitions, he won the 1st prize at the 2020 Pukhanski young pianists competition, he was awarded a performance with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra at the “Muba virtuosos” competition.
Alex Tuan, cello
Alex Tuan is a cellist from Taiwan currently studying at Eastman School of Music. His principal mentors include Professor Guy Johnston and Professor Victor Coo. Before attending Eastman, Alex has received first place in Taiwan Music Competition (high school division) in 2020 and second place in Excellence Music Open Competition of Taiwan in 2021. Outside of school, he has served as principal cellist of the Idyllwild Summer Symphony Orchestra Intensive in 2019 and the Prague Summer Nights festival in 2023. Alex has also performed a solo recital at the Eslite Performance Hall in Taiwan in 2021 and participated in masterclasses with Tamás Varga and the Telegraph Quartet.
Elisabeth Vannas, piano
Elisabeth Vannas (born 3.10.2012) was born and grows up on a small organic farm in Lepaniit, Hiiumaa, where her family grows various vegetables and keeps sheep, goats and chickens. Elisabeth started piano studies at the age of 5 and has now completed the 4th grade of a music school. Elisabeth regularly represents her school at various local and national events and has successfully participated in several piano competitions (including international ones). In addition to playing the piano, Elisabeth is engaged in folk dancing, solo singing, choral singing and playing the recorder and willingly helps take care of the animals on the home farm.