When Ukrainian concert pianist Anna Sagalova and her young son left the warn-torn city of Kharkiv, they left almost everything behind.
The Russian invasion meant they could not stay where Sagalova taught as an associate professor at the Kharkiv National University of Arts. They now live in Surrey, after they were invited by a colleague to relocate.
Early in the war, a Russian missile landed about 50 metres from the university — breaking windows, cracking the building and damaging a grand piano.
“Kharkiv is under rocket attacks every day, still. Just today were already three attacks in Kharkiv region,” Sagalova said.
Sagalova, an internationally recognized laureate of music awards in Italy, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Canada and Germany, is now fundraising to support her home city.
She will play two benefit concerts in Parksville and Nanaimo on June 25 to restore the university where she used to teach. Sagalova will perform at Knox United Church (345 Pym St.) in Parksville at 2 p.m. and St. Andrews United Church in Nanaimo at 7 p.m.
“Half of [the program] will be Ukrainian, because my aim is to show the Ukrainian culture, it’s very important,” she said.
One of the composers has a special connection to Sagalova. Vladimir Ptushkin, who was her teacher many years ago, died early in the war.
“He had a problem with (his) heart and he couldn’t get to the hospital because it was dangerous to go out and he died because of the war,” said Sagalova. “So I always try to play his music just to keep him alive, at least in my heart.”
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Last year, after spending several days in a bomb shelter in their basement, she and her son made the dangerous three-day trip to Lviv, which was also struck by missiles.
They have been in Canada for more than a year. Sagalova teaches at a music school and has already put on several successful benefit concerts, including one in Toronto that raised $17,000 in January.
“I feel like almost at home here because of people who really want to support and understand and to hear,” she said.
She still teaches a handful of her Ukrainian students who have decided to continue studying despite the war.
Sagalova has played concerts for the International Museum of the Red Cross in Geneva, the Bozendorfer Hall in Vienna and the House Museum of Franz Liszt and the concert hall in Altenburg, Germany. She also made guest appearances as a soloist at festivals in Ukraine, Poland, Spain, Germany and China.
Sagalova is the artistic director of the International Musical Art Contes Kharkiv Assembles and co-founder of the project ‘Music Against Cancer.’
Admission is by donation. All proceeds from the Parksville and Nanaimo concerts will go directly the Kharkiv I.P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts.
Both Knox and St. Andrew’s have donated their church space for these concerts, and all helpers, including church staff, have donated their time.