THE POWER OF MUSIC Interview with Anastasiya Petryshak by Susanna GIUSTO Anastasiya Petryshak, 27, Ukrainian violinist of international fame, naturalized Italian, fears for the future of her war-torn country. “That morning my grandmother’s phone call woke us, announcing the news,” she told us, still incredulous. The musician, originally from Ivano-Frankivs’k, received the 2016 Award for “European Personality in the Field of Classical Music,” left Ukraine in 2005 to continue her violin studies in Italy, becoming the youngest student of Maestro Salvatore Accardo. Today she lives in Switzerland, has a brilliant international career, and an 8-month-old son, but she does not forget her roots and earnestly appeals to all mothers: “ We have to stick together to defend healthy values, educate our children for peace, respect, and protect the world we would like to leave for the next generation!” What was your first reaction upon hearing the news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine? My grandmother phoned me with the news. She told me they had bombed some strategic points in my hometown, Ivano Frankivsk. I was shocked ... sure, there have been tensions for a long time but I never thought, in 2022, it was possible to go this far. Do you have relatives or friends living there? How are they facing this terrible situation? Part of my family lives in Ukraine. My cousins were called up to defend the country. They are people like us, who from one day to the next were called to take up rifles and improvise to become soldiers. Who is ever ready to face a war? Not to mention the worry of wives, mothers and sisters ... it’s very admirable, however, to see the strong spirit, the resistance, the endurance and the will to protect one’s land.
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