Kseniia Yershova (20) thought that one day she might like to study music abroad but she never imaged she would be forced to move abroad before she had even finished secondary school.
“I studied at the Special Music School in Odesa, which is a general secondary school with a focus on music. I was actually thinking to study abroad anyway at some point, either for my bachelors or for my master’s. I was thinking maybe Germany or, I don’t know, Austria. I was actually learning some German for that. But yeah, that never ended up happening.”
Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine has cast a long shadow over Yershova’s life. In 2014, Yershova and her family had to leave the Crimean Peninsula after Russia’s annexation. They settled in the seaside city of Odesa but eight years later the family had to once more pack their lives up and leave – this time because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“When I meet new people, I say that I’m from Odesa as, though I spent half my life in Crimea, I finished school in Odesa.”
RM Block
She was in her second last year of school in March 2022 when she moved with her family from Odesa to Kerry. Her father had studied in England when he was younger and had some friends in Britain and France who ended up helping the family to find somewhere to stay in Ireland.
“My first impression of Ireland was that it was so green everywhere. We drove from Dublin to Kerry, and it’s a long journey that is very peaceful and beautiful. From the first few days all the Irish people were so nice to us, and they were trying to help or saying nice things. That really helped us, and we really appreciated this beautiful attitude.”
Yershova is the oldest of six. She has four sisters and one brother. The five girls all play musical instruments together and have formed a band called Yershovy Sisters.
“My dad never played a musical instrument. Originally, he was in the Ukrainian navy but now he works in IT. My mum played piano when she was a child but not for very long. It was her idea to get us into music.”
Yershova plays the viola and violin; her sisters Yevlaiia (18), Olena (16) and Nataliia (13) all play the violin while Sofia (nine) plays the cello.
“We performed three years in a row at the annual National String Quartet Foundation Gala Concert in Cork. We also participated in Réalta agus Gaolta on TG4 and we actually won the show. We also played at culture night, and we do a lot of charity concerts.”
As the oldest, Yershova arranges all the music that they perform.
“In our repertoire we have some classical, we have Ukrainian and Irish folk music, some music from film soundtracks.”
It was important to Yershova and her sisters to learn how to perform Irish folk music after moving to Ireland.
“We wanted to show our gratitude to the Irish people and we decided to include some Irish music into our programme, so whenever we perform we play something that people would recognise. Though they will be hearing it from a different perspective as we’re not playing Irish music the way Irish people would because we’re not Irish and we’re not really trained to play trad. People usually really like it.”
Today Yershova is in third year of a bachelor of music degree at Cork School of Music, her sister Yevlaiia is in her first year there and the sisters share a room in Cork city.
“After we moved here some musicians from Cork and Kerry found out about our musical family and they really, really helped us. One of them was Maria O’Connor, a cellist from Cork, and when she found out about us, she got in contact and said that the Cork School of Music would be a really good place for us to have lessons.”
All four sisters started to have music lessons at the Cork School of Music following O’Connor’s recommendation. Then after completing her Ukrainian secondary school exams remotely from Kerry, Yershova decided to pursue her undergraduate degree in music at the school.
“It was quite an obvious choice for me to stay here because of the whole atmosphere, the support, the facilities as well. For musicians the teacher is the most important thing. You need to find the teacher and then you go study somewhere. I really like my teacher, Gregory Ellis, he’s such a wise man and I’ve taken so much from him. I was really happy that I found this place.”
The rest of Yershova’s family still live in north Kerry.
“My family would like to move to Cork. My younger sisters commute two hours each way every week for their music lessons. We would like to find a place in Cork but right now it’s very hard.”
What are her plans for the future? She laughs. “I don’t know where exactly the future is going to bring me. Every time I think about it, I know that it probably won’t be like I think it will be anyway. I wouldn’t mind just being in Ireland. I really like this country, but I don’t have a plan for where I’m going to be in the future. Maybe after I finish my degree, I’ll study somewhere else for my master’s.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
