Olena Koreniak, who holds the position of head of the department of Ukrainian folk musical instruments at the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema Arts, has been working here since 2010. During this time, she has mastered around ten folk instruments: the sopilka, the gusli, the old-style bandura, and small wind instruments – the ocarina and the zozulka. This is her musical illustration for her own guided tour.

Olena says that her performance skills came in handy in her work: she studied at a music college in the choral conducting department and in the orchestral department – on the violin. She graduated from the National Music Academy of Ukraine as a musicologist. And when she was accepted into the music department, after becoming acquainted with theatrical subjects, she complemented the knowledge she already had – reinforcing it with a documentary foundation. In general, music has surrounded her since childhood: her family is connected to film and theater actors and directors, and her parents are musicians.

The museum houses a vast collection of Ukrainian folk musical instruments. This gem was gathered by Leonid Cherkasky, who, starting in 1969, spent his life traveling through villages and towns, collecting instruments and information about them, speaking with craftsmen and performers.

When the full-scale war began, the question arose of how to protect the exhibits. Olena undertook this task together with her father. The family decided not to evacuate because they had just brought Olena’s mother home from the hospital, and she required complex rehabilitation. Remaining in the capital, they worked to preserve the museum’s collection and supported everyone who found themselves in even more difficult circumstances. 

Olena says that it was Gianni Rodari’s fairy tales that saved her from stress. “For the first time in a long while, I began to smile… Gradually, those texts helped me return to some kind of reasonable perception of reality,” she says.