7 matches and the
construction of
a mandolin
Over the past few months, we’ve also been able to facilitate a number of wonderful matches. In fact, they’re always wonderful matches: on one hand, generous donors who give an instrument a second life; on the other, refugees who find solace in music amid difficult circumstances and, thanks to our “Doorspelen” project, can pick up their instruments again. One particularly heartwarming project is a mandolin currently being built in Milan!
Karina (21) is from Dnipropetrovsk and lives on a cruise ship in Utrecht. Her musical ambitions are modest, but no less important given her circumstances. With the gift of a guitar, she can relax and play for herself and others.
Anastasiia (30) is from Kyiv and now lives in Amstelveen. She is a pianist and leads a choir of Ukrainian peers called “De Zonnebloemen.” Thanks to the donation of a digital piano, she can accompany the choir and help them with their part practice.
Denis (12) is from Kharkiv. He lives with his mother and grandmother in Renswoude. Thanks to the donation of a good guitar, he can resume his lessons—now with a Dutch guitar teacher. The text on his T-shirt speaks volumes: a lack of direction, but also new opportunities...
Nazar (10) from Vinnitsya lives in Barneveld with his mother, grandmother, brother, and sister. They are determined to integrate into Dutch society. Nazar had to put his saxophone lessons on hold for a year because he didn’t have a good instrument. During that time, he had to make do with a recorder. Now that he has a good alto saxophone again, he’s taking online lessons and is making good progress once more.
Vlada (28) from Dnipro is a violinist; she used to play in the Lviv Symphony Orchestra and now lives in Horst aan de Maas. She’s getting back into her craft in every way possible: teaching, giving concerts, and even playing on the street if necessary. For this last purpose, she was given a high-quality violin.
Another musician we helped was Renata (21) from Ternopil. She studied at the Prince Claus Conservatory in Groningen under instructor Veselina Manikova. She also played the violin and used a bow through the Doorspelen project. To our great sadness, we received the news that Renata recently passed away.
Yevheniia (39) was a violinist in an orchestra in Crimea and had to leave her instrument behind. Thanks to a donation, she now has a beautiful violin again and is exploring opportunities to perform and teach in our country. You may recognize her from a widely read article about our campaign in *De Volkskrant* on January 26 of this year.
Last September, we put out a call for a mandolin for Amaliia (18) from Donetsk. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a suitable instrument of the right model. Thanks to a generous financial contribution, we were fortunately able to commission Lorenzo Lippi in Milan to build a new mandolin (model: Embergher 5bis) for Amaliia. We’ll keep you posted!
That article focused on our “Doorspelen” project and on the plight of refugees, who see their lives come to a standstill and must completely reorient themselves to find opportunities and possibilities in a foreign environment. No matter how small the impact of a good, playable instrument may seem in light of geopolitical developments, for refugees it often makes a world of difference.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact project manager Ben Cartens.
This initiative is supported by Het Cultuurfonds.
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