Ukrainian Job Seekers Abroad: From Playing Organ Solos to Picking Oranges

Last Wednesday the village of Pasychna, Starosyniavsky district, Khmelnytsky oblast, received encouraging news from Spain. “Liudmyla Tymoshchuk just phoned. She said she gave an organ recital in a Madrid cathedral. She played Masses, preludes, and Bach’s fugues,” Petro Nemets, principal of Pasychna’s music school, told The Day, reporting on the success of this school’s graduate. After completing her studies, Liudmyla taught music to local children for some time and then, three years ago, went to Spain to earn a living picking oranges in groves. “In a faraway country she remembered that she had a vocation,” the principal added. He noted, “the excellent bandura player Svitlana Banshchykova works as a chambermaid in Italy — she looks after an old man.” He does not know whether Svitlana plays the traditional Ukrainian musical instrument to her employer. The principal mentioned some other school graduates who, after becoming well-known musicians, went to various countries to work at jobs that are far removed from art. Yet Mr. Nemets does not despair over this. “There are 120 pupils at the school who show inspiration and a desire to learn the piano, bandura, accordion, and wind instruments.” He is proud of his graduates who are continuing their musical education in higher schools and conservatories.