On the morning of 24 February 2022, the Kruti family woke to the sound of explosions and suddenly their lives were completely upturned. Russia had invaded Ukraine and Kyiv was under attack. They needed somewhere safe from the terror so unexpectedly thrust upon them. After several anxious weeks, they made the heartbreaking decision to leave their beloved country.
Olena’s sister Natalia, who had made Noosa her home years before, urged the family to come and live with her. And so Olena and her husband, their two young daughters, and Olena’s elderly father arrived as refugees to start their new lives here.
Nearly four years later Olena is relishing her new life, particularly singing with Noosa Chorale. It was inevitable that her background as a musicologist and music educator would draw her to joining the Chorale where she has made many new friends.
With Christmas and the New Year just around the corner, Noosa Chorale’s December concert features a song close to the heart of Ukrainians wherever they are. “Shchedryk” is a New Year’s song, probably dating from before the arrival of Christianity in Ukraine, which tells the story of a swallow flying into a house and singing of the bountiful year to come in the spring.
The arrangement of the song by Mykola Leontovych so impressed American composer Peter Wilhousky when he heard it performed at Carnegie Hall in 1922 that he wrote his own lyrics in English and called it “Carol of the Bells”. Thanks to Olena’s excellent help with pronunciation, the choir will be singing the original “Shchedryk” in Ukrainian.
The concert features carols and songs from around the world, many sung in their original languages, and conductor Kim Kirkman will be inviting the audience to sing along to the well-known traditional carols. The programme also includes another song in Ukrainian performed by Ariabella, the vocal harmony group that Olena joined last year.
Olena is thankful for her family’s good fortune and is very proud of her family’s achievements. Her dad, Viktor Klymenko, now in his nineties, has continued his life-long contributions to science in the field of energy generation.
Dr Klymenko headed up a department at the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics at the National Academy of Science in Ukraine, and Olena says his sudden uprooting and move to Australia has not put a stop to his research.
His experiments are now happening in the small laboratory he set up at home in the family’s apartment and he is still actively contributing to his field’s scientific journals and conferences.
Olena’s two daughters have raced ahead with their studies. Having just graduated with commendation for academic excellence from Sunshine Coast University, 22-year old Yuliia is about to start work as a software engineer. Her younger sister Olha, 14, is getting top grades in all subjects, including English, at Good Shepherd Lutheran College.
Noosa Chorale “Cantique de Noël: Christmas from around the World”
Friday 12 December at 7pm, and Saturday 13 December at 2pm
The J Theatre, 60 Noosa Drive.
Tickets: $49 adult / $30 student and child 17 years and under
www.thej.com.au 07 5329 6560
