About
About me
My name is Yaroslav — Yarik for short. I have played the cello since I was six; it has crossed three countries with me, and it is still what I do.
2013 · Kramatorsk, Ukraine
Six years old, and a cello
I was born in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine. I was six when I first walked into a music school, and in 2013 I began my studies at the School of Arts No. 3. That is where the cello began.
2014–2019 · Kyiv
The teachers who shaped me
In 2014 my family moved to Kyiv, and my studies continued there. That is where I met Alexander Horolsky — the teacher who took me on and shaped my playing more than anyone — together with his wife, Polina Zakharyan. They put an enormous amount of work into me: we studied the baroque style in depth, and they taught me what I value most — to play so that the music sings rather than falls flat. Much of how I play today, I owe to them. Those years were full of music: solo performances, duets, trios and quartets, and orchestra. At the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in Kyiv I played a concert with the orchestra, and on another occasion took part in a masterclass there led by José Vázquez — the Cuban-American viola da gamba player who taught in Vienna and founded the Orpheon Foundation.
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2019–2022 · Krasnodar
I didn't stop
In 2019 the family had to move again — this time to Krasnodar. The cello stayed with me: I continued at Music School No. 1 and graduated with a red diploma, the distinction given for finishing with honours. Beyond the school walls I played in the orchestra and in worship teams. One of them was Kovcheg Music — I played with the team, and together we recorded several songs.
2022–now · British Columbia
Where the cello plays now
Since 2022, British Columbia has been home — and the cello came with me. These days I play wherever people gather: weddings and ceremonies, churches, retirement residences, cafés, living rooms, and outdoors beneath the mountains when the weather allows. Some of it is Bach. Some of it is a film score. And some of it is the song someone can't stop humming. I teach as well — children, teenagers, adults, and people returning to the cello after years away.
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The story is still going
Thank you for reading this far.
It is not a finished story. There is music I have not learned yet, rooms I have not played in, and people I have not met. If one of them is you — at a wedding, an evening, a living room, or a first lesson — I would be glad to hear from you.
Shall we make some music?
Weddings and events go through a few quick steps. Lessons have their own short form.