D. Sasha and the Ukrainian Orchestra Come to Visit!

It’s not very often that I get family visitors from Ukraine so when we do, it’s a very big deal! 

This year, my uncle Sasha, was touring the states with the Ukrainian National Symphony and they were passing by Raleigh. They did a similar thing three years ago when we had a chance to provide lunch to the orchestra at our church as well as attend their concert in Danville, VA. This time, their schedule didn’t allow them to have a long visit, so I “intercepted" their bus on their drive from NJ to another concert venue in Pembroke, NC and picked up my uncle on Monday, Feb 17th. It was only an hour drive, and this way he could spend the night here at home, relax a bit with our family and then I could drive him to Pembroke in time for his concert the following day.

This is Uncle (Diadia) Sasha and I. He loved being with us and the kids. He said it was very serene and uplifting to be at our home. 

We took him out to Chick-Fil-A with the kids who were off school that day, coincidentally. 

Before this, though, we spent a couple of hours playing the piano and having the kids improvise and sing with him. He is an amazing musician/pianist himself so it was so fun to hear them all. 

We took a few pictures together before I drove him to Pembroke. We really missed my aunt Halia this year, but unfortunately, she couldn’t come on tour after her back surgery.

So on Wednesday, March 19th, the orchestra was performing in Elon, which is an hour away from us. That was the location that was closest for us to go hear them play. We hopped in the car right after Robert came home from work and drove to Elon. Cameron, Katya’s boyfriend, joined us as well. 

The concert was fantastic! The soloist was a Ukrainian who now lives in Charleston with his wife. Amazing stuff! And although it looks like the concert hall is empty... that’s not true, it was full on OUR side:)

Intermission with my half-Ukrainian kids.

Oh yeah, I love dressing up for these things. 

Katya and Cameron.

And the whole group (kind of blurry but ok).

Uncle Sasha took us backstage for a few minutes and we ran into several people who remembered our luncheon from the last time they came through our area. I wish we could have done it this time too, so we’ll try next time, if we have more time. 

Always great to see family from Ukraine and always exciting to hear such talented musicians playing classical music! 💕