Ihor Shevchuk

Who and when was it decided that I would be a singer?

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I was born in a small Ukrainian village where music and songs are an integral part of the life of all the people. Music accompanies people in happiness and helps to survive grief. It can be said that music - and especially folk song - is the soul of the entire Ukrainian people. Ukrainians are an incredibly musical nation. Their wonderful voices adorn the best opera stages of world theaters.

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In my homeland in Western Ukraine, the village of Hoholiv, there is a special tradition-omen: before a baby is carried to the church to be baptized, the mother secretly puts a little object under the rug of the threshold of the house, with which, according to legend, the fate of that child will somehow be intertwined.

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My mother placed a book of songs under the rug. I did not learn of this until I was a teenager, when the desire to sing was my greatest dream.

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I do not remember exactly when I began singing, but it seems as though I've been singing since I was born. I always sang with the adults at family holidays. My unwavering desire to study music was such, that I was determined to walk the 15 kilometers to the neighboring town in order to attend music school. When I, as a child was asked, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" - I answered, without hesitation,"Sing!"

 

As I grew, I began to sing in the church choir. And soon I learned the beauty of not only folk and liturgical music, but also that of the opera. Subsequently, I had the great honor to graduate from the Odessa Musical Academy A. Nezhdanova, famous for its vocal school and brilliant graduates.

 

I do not know who nor when it was decided that I would be a singer. Perhaps it was the stroke of chance, or the will of those in higher administration, or the influence of the singing voices who have surrounded me since childhood, revealing the beauty of music to me. Maybe it was my mother’s choice to hide a book of songs under the rug on the day I was baptized, which became a mystical foreshadowing; or maybe it was the Lord God Himself, who gifted me a voice and a firm belief that singing is my destiny and higher calling.

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And perhaps, ultimately it comes from within, when I find my purest joy in singing.

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I do not know who, nor when it was decided that I would become a singer; I only know with certainty that when I sing and give joy to others, my wings take flight. My soul, like a bird soars to heaven. In music and singing is my true happiness - my sky, my paradise. And every time I sing for others - I sing too, for God.