“Even Great Harp Soloists Don’t Pursue a Solo Career Alone” — Ukrainian Harpist Veronika Lemishenko

It’s easy to recognize a harp onstage, yet the professional world of harp players remains largely unseen. Training, orchestral work, solo and chamber performance, touring, each sphere is shaped by the instrument’s unique physical and technical demands.

Ukrainian harpist Veronika Lemishenko, winner of the 2026 World Harp Competition (Netherlands) and a member of the orchestra of the Croatian National Theatre in Osijek, offers a look into this world. She performs as a soloist and chamber musician, teaches in England and Ukraine, and leads the Glowing Harp [Arfovi Barvy] festival and competition and the Ukrainian harpist community Arfoprostir. 

Our conversation explores the Ukrainian harp school, the structure of the harpist’s profession, and the instrument’s expressive capabilities. We also discuss Veronika Lemishenko’s collaboration with composers, the Ukrainian repertoire, and her album Ukrainian Patterns, released in March 2026.

Harp and Ukraine

— How did the harp enter your life?

— I was fortunate to grow up in Kharkiv. When I was about three, I saw a harp in a theatre production. Its appearance and sound were impossible to miss. Later, my parents and I learned that the Kharkiv Ten-Year Music School, now the Kharkiv State Music Lyceum, offered harp instruction. As it turned out, the harpist I had seen onstage had begun teaching there just a few years earlier.

That is how I joined the harp program led by Larysa Klevtsova. At the time, she was a young instructor finishing her own studies and, over the years, she developed one of the strongest harp programs in Ukraine. Larysa Klevtsova traveled frequently to competitions, returned with new scores, and, by the early 2000s, built a substantial library of contemporary harp repertoire.  Her students continually learned about new techniques, leading performers, and developments in the global harp community.

I began my studies at age seven. Today, children typically start on small lever harps and transition to full pedal harps around the fourth grade. In my generation, small lever harps were not available; we started directly on full-size pedal instruments, and the only harps accessible were Soviet made. We used makeshift supports, raised chairs, footrests, i.e. anything that helped a child reach the instrument while maintaining proper posture. Beginners don’t play across the full range of the harp; we performed mainly in the middle register.

— Where can a child in Ukraine study the harp today, and how accessible is such an education?

— Had the full-scale war not begun, the landscape of harp education in Ukraine would look quite competitive today. New instruments, both lever harps and pedal harps, had gradually begun appearing in music schools. Kharkiv had the strongest harp program, and its graduates were enrolling in leading music institutions in Germany, England, and the Netherlands.

For harpists, though, the biggest challenge has always been access to an instrument. Owning a personal harp is a dream for many.

A small lever harp costs around 3,000 euros. A price for a starter pedal harp begins at roughly 20,000 euros, a midrange model costs about 30,000 euros, and a concert harp reaches 40,000-euro level. Despite its size, the harp is remarkably fragile: it requires controlled temperature and humidity and regular professional maintenance.

This reality fundamentally shapes harp education. A school or conservatory cannot sustain a harp program without its own instruments and essential accessories: spare strings, a transport dolly, protective covers, etc. Even then, a single harp is never enough since one is needed for lessons and another for students’ daily practice.

Kharkiv once offered an ideal model. There were two dedicated harp classrooms and several instruments. Two harps served as the primary teaching instruments, while the others could be loaned to students for home practice. I received my first loaned harp in the fourth grade, an extraordinary privilege that made serious study possible.

Today, the situation in Kharkiv is quite bleak. Starting with online learning is hardly an option. If a student already has a solid foundation, it can be maintained to some extent. Most students have left the city. Some continued their studies in Lviv and many others went abroad. They can technically study in Kharkiv in parallel, but it’s no longer the same.

The main centers for professional-level education remain in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Lviv. However, fully functioning offline instruction is realistically possible only in Kyiv and Lviv. Music schools in Lviv have, in recent years, renewed their instrument collections. They now have modern pedal harps produced in Europe and the city’s leading orchestras are equipped with high-quality instruments.

Kyiv has various lever harps but, when it comes to pedal harps, Soviet-era instruments are still widely used, both in orchestras and in educational institutions.

— How important are masterclasses, summer academies, and other educational programs outside of formal training for a harpist? How accessible are these opportunities for Ukrainian students?

— They are extremely important but, again, the key issue is access to a highquality instrument. If a student is learning on a poorquality harp, it becomes impossible to work on certain techniques or a complex repertoire. 

Masterclass accessibility depends on a student’s family’s financial capacity. Still, quite a few international events with masterclasses have been held in Ukraine. For instance, in 2014 we founded the Glowing Harp festival and competition in Kharkiv: we invited foreign teachers both as jury members and to give masterclasses. It created a very active exchange of experience. One of the competition prizes was a scholarship to attend a masterclass abroad.

— How did your Glowing Harp and Arfoprostir initiatives originate, and how have they developed?

— Glowing Harp grew out of the idea of creating a professional-level competition. At the time, I had already participated in many competitions and had the experience and understanding of how to make a competitioninteresting and comfortable for participants. We started as a nationwide competition, became international in 2017and, after reaching their standards, joined the European Federation of International Music Competitions in 2018.

When the pandemic began, we were among the first to move the competition online. In 2021, being already well-known and having many connections with foreign teachers, Glowing Harp hosted 160 participants from all over the world. This proved helpful after the start of full-scale war as many musicians helped Ukrainian harpists. About 15 of the Ukrainian students, ranging from 8 to 24 years old, continued their studies in Europe, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Arfoprostir, by contrast, began in 2022 as a Telegram chat where I added every harpist for whom I had contact information. Gradually the group grew and eventually became an important platform for sharing information, for example where to perform, go on tour, find sheet music, rent an instrument, or learn about current competitions and orchestra programs.

This chat has also served as a source of moral support. Nothing felt stable in the first months of the full-scale war, but our professional community remained. This was especially significant for harpists since the harp is tied to a place, and when you must leave with your family and can’t take your instrument, you suddenly find yourself completely detached from what shaped your identity. You say, “I’m a harpist,” yet don’t even have an instrument nearby. We tried to give young harpists at least part of the professional environment they had previously.

— Compared with the time when you were studying, how has the harp community in Ukraine changed?

— The biggest step forward has been the gradual renewal of instruments. I keep coming back to this point because it truly is crucial.

We also must acknowledge the role of the internet. It has become much easier to stay connected, and the three main “harp centers” of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Lviv, now communicate far more actively. In the past, each city could exist in its own little circle, and what happened elsewhere didn’t necessarily interest anyone. Over time, communication has become much easier and so has mutual engagement.

This is especially noticeable among the younger generation. For example, in Arfoprostir, you can casually ask about a particular edition or how to play a certain vorschlag. No one tries to keep the best information to themselves or avoid sharing. That is the most important thing a professional community can have.

Education, Work, and Choice

— After studying in Kharkiv, you continued your education in Moscow. Why did you choose that path?

— It’s important to consider the era and the generation. I finished school in 2007 and there weren’t as many pathways as there are today. Going somewhere like London seemed almost “reserved for the gods.”

Once again, I was very fortunate, because I went specifically to study with a particular teacher at the GnessinAcademy, Milda Agazaryan, and not “just to study in Moscow.” Ms. Agazaryan, a wellknown figure in the harp world and an outstanding pedagogue, also served on the juries of the most prestigious competitions. That constant connection to the international harp community through my teacher played a significant role in my development.

There were only Soviet era harps in Kharkiv when I graduated from school. Practicing regularly on modern instruments as a university student in Moscow was a huge professional leap for me.

Within a few years, the situation in Ukraine regarding choices for higher education began to change and you could discover a wide range of opportunities through the internet. However, in 2007, studying in Moscow was the tried and tested path. There were state programs for that, and I received a grant from the Ukrainian Ministry to study at the Moscow academy.

— You stayed to work in Russia after completing your studies. How did your professional career develop from there?

— After graduating from the academy, I received a position in an orchestra. It became my primary job. However, I founded Glowing Harp in Kharkiv, and the place of my employment never interfered with the projects I wanted to realize in Ukraine. We have held Glowing Harp in two languages, Ukrainian and English, since 2014 despite some people questioning this choice.

The orchestra experience is incredibly valuable for a musician’s growth. You learn an enormous amount of music, especially when working with good conductors, going on tours, and hearing other orchestras.

Meanwhile, I auditioned for other orchestras whenever an opportunity arose. Just before the pandemic, I won an audition to the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and was on its roster from 2022 to 2024. I largely joined the orchestra on tours, since the main resident harpist was based in Kyiv and covered most regular performances. Throughout the years, I continually looked for pathways to further professional growth. Eventually, I secured a position in Croatia.

— How different are the professional environments in Russia and Europe?

— They are quite different. The mentalities vary, as do attitudes toward many aspects of working life. For example, European orchestras have unions, so their system of hierarchy and communication is structured differently. In Europe you feel more protected as a musician. The professional level of performance varies everywhere.

— You left Russia after the fullscale invasion began, leaving behind your job, colleagues, and professional community. What was it like to walk away from all of that?

— It was a simple and quick decision. I submitted my resignation to both the orchestra and the school. Leaving the school was emotionally harder because working with children creates deep bonds, but I had no doubts.

Many people didn’t believe the war would break out. An even greater shock for me was how many people in Russia supported it or pretended as if nothing was happening. I’m not saying everyone did, but the number was large.

The Harpist’s Career

— Speaking about a harpist’s profession, what career paths do musicians typically choose?

— Like most young musicians, my biggest dream was to travel to competitions and perform in concerts. You realize later that you also need to earn a living. That’s why playing in an orchestra is the most common option for a harpist.

There is typically a permanent harp position and (which is a point of pride), sometimes even two in large cities and major orchestras. This was the case in leading orchestras in Kharkiv and Odesa, and in several Kyiv orchestras until 2022. However, harpists are often invited only for specific programs, which makes their financial situation very unstable.

In Europe, teaching can also be a primary job that provides stability. In Ukraine, if you’re starting as a teacher, it’s unrealistic to make a living from it alone: it takes years of experience and a large class.

Yet even the greatest harp soloists don’t pursue an exclusively solo career. Usually, they either teach at a prestigious educational institution or play in an orchestra concurrently. In other words, it’s practically unheard of for someone to be solely a soloist.

— How does having only one, sometimes two, harp positions in an orchestra affect your chances of finding a job and gaining orchestral experience?

— In Ukraine, harpists can primarily find work in orchestras, but not all orchestras have their own harp. Another problem arises even earlier, during one’s studies. In student orchestras (especially in music school orchestras), the repertoire is often chosen without a harp: Mozart, Haydn, and so on. As a result, young harpists might miss out on orchestral experience entirely. Suddenly life throws them into a professional orchestra where everyone knows what’s happening, except the harpist, walking in for the first time and sitting alone.

The harp is not a section instrument, i.e. there isn’t a group of fellow harpists sitting next to you who can whisper advice on counting, entries, or cues. There are courses in Ukrainian conservatories, on orchestral parts, but no opportunities to play in an orchestra. Sometimes, such a course is not taught by harpist, which is bizarre. Harp parts, like those for any other instrument, have their own gradations of difficulty, and you can’t simply hand a first year student Debussy’s Faun (which requires two harps).

On top of that, many parts in different scores were edited by harpists, because the original composer’s writing was unplayable due to a lack of understanding of the harp’s mechanics. There are traditions and performance practices that only an experienced orchestral harpist can explain.

By contrast, the system of orchestral academies is highly developed in Europe. Many major orchestras have their own academies for young musicians. Students work closely with mentors, musicians of the main orchestra over one or two years. Once they gain enough experience and professional confidence, they can perform not only in the youth orchestra but also in the main one. For harpists, this might mean playing second harp, and sometimes even first. Chamber music also receives considerable attention in these programs.

— To what extent do a harpist’s professional opportunities depend on how the orchestra itself is run?

— They depend on it a great deal. There were plenty of orchestras in Ukraine, before the full-scale war. The biggest problem, again, was the instruments. Ideally, an orchestra should have two harps, which must be tuned by a specialized technician every year. He must check about two thousand mechanical components that connect the pedals, strings, and so on, to ensure that everything shifts precisely. The stock of strings also needs to be regularly renewed and the responsibility for this should lie with the institution, the school or the orchestra, not with the harpist.

These organizational and administrative aspects aren’t fully streamlined in Ukraine yet. Much depends on the conductor and on how well the administration understands the world of music. In a serious orchestra, there would never be a situation like, “The piano will play this, why do we need a harp?” or “There are two harp parts here, let’s just mash them into one.” The human factor and the atmosphere within the orchestra also matter. My experience working with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine has been entirely positive.

The schedule is also important. To take on solo or chamber music projects alongside your work with the orchestra, you need to know your dates in advance. It’s difficult to plan anything if you only receive the schedule for the following month, since major festivals and other projects are often arranged about a year in advance. In Europe, the schedule is usually provided much earlier, so you can plan your life accordingly. I’m not talking about the current situation, where the war is having a devastating impact on life and work in Ukraine.

— How does the size and transport complexity of the harp affect a harpist’s everyday work, rehearsals, concerts, and touring?

— Harpists almost never carry the instrument themselves; it’s simply not physically feasible. The harp must be brought in by someone else. The harpist’s job is to unpack it, tune it, and pack it up again after the performance.

There are also regional specifics. For example, in the United Kingdom it is customary for a harpist to arrive with their own instrument, which surprised me at first. However, all related expenses are covered; if you travel by car, fuel costs are reimbursed; if you take a taxi, the taxi is paid for. So, the financial burden of transporting the instrument doesn’t fall on the musician.

If you’re playing on an unfamiliar harp, you must arrive early, ideally, more than just an hour before and sometimes the day before, unless your colleague can check the instrument’s condition. For instance, if you replace many strings, they need time to settle to hold pitch. Later, no one will care that you’re out of tune because you had to replace fifteen strings right before the concert. Different harp models also vary slightly, in the upper range, in pedal responsiveness, and for someone accustomed to a single model, these differences can be very noticeable. So, you can’t simply walk in and start playing; you always need time to get acquainted with the instrument in advance.

Another specific aspect is that the harp is usually already positioned on the stage in an orchestra. Unlike other instrumentalists, you cannot stay with your instrument while you walk onstage, checking things or playing through any last details. Instead, you wait alone backstage, half an hour if you’re lucky, sometimes longer, and then you go out and play. This is why it’s crucial to prepare for this from childhood and not to let students get used to the idea that, “I’ll run through it one more time” right before a performance. On the day of the concert, you must be ready to play after only a brief warm-up.

There is also a transportation issue. Not all orchestras and schools in Ukraine have special harp trolleys. These make an enormous difference since, if the classroom and the concert hall are on the same floor, a teacher or a senior student can simply wheel the harp over. Without a trolley, you need to find two people to carry it by hand.

When I was little, we often traveled to festivals by train, bringing the harp with us, along with stands and our own chairs. Whole mountain of bags came with us. Moving a harp is far from simple: it weighs around 40 kilograms. The challenge is the weight and the dimensions. The size is unwieldy, and the instrument is extremely delicate; it reacts to external conditions just like other string instruments.

— Can a harp even fit into a car?

— It fits into a station wagon. The Škoda Octavia is our favorite model. There are even entire forums and surveys where harpists share measurements and recommend cars best for transporting a harp. It’s quite a popular topic.

If you’re traveling by car or train, there is a special transport cover made of reinforced fabric that fully encloses the instrument. For longer trips, there is a flight case, a huge crate that secures a harp and weighs around 100 kilograms.

This is crucial because constant shaking can throw the harp mechanism out of alignment. You might tune the instrument perfectly but, after pressing a pedal, the semitone shift will be inaccurate, and nothing can correct itduring the performance.

— You combine orchestral work, solo performances, chamber music, teaching, and your own projects. How did you get into this professional life?

— Harpists are, in general, absolute enthusiasts of their instrument. Anything related to a harp makes our eyes light up and we do everything. The harp is a specific instrument and, if you’re not a true devotee, you won’t stay in this profession because the demands are enormous.

I genuinely love everything connected with the harp. I love listening to how others play it, helping young harpists, and discussing repertoire and technique with colleagues. In many ways, the harp community survives precisely because all harpists share this. 

Our solo projects, orchestra work, masterclasses, and chamber music become intertwined. Everyone ends up with their own proportions of these activities, depending on how their career, opportunities, and work evolve.

Focusing on one activity makes it hard to stay in top professional form. Even if you play in an excellent toplevel orchestra, stepping onstage for a solo performance after a year can feel terrifying. That’s why it’s essential to keep working across all your different abilities.

— What do different aspects of your career, solo performance, chamber music, orchestra, and teaching, give you personally?

— I love playing solo, but chamber music is probably where I feel most at home on stage. You’re in a company and a team atmosphere forms among the players. It’s always fascinating because you never know how each musician will play on a given day. It’s a dialogue without words and I love that immensely.

It feels entirely different in an orchestra. When you perform great symphonic works and sense that vast scale around you, you realize that you’re just one part of something much larger. In a solo performance, you also carry responsibility toward the composer but, in the end, it is your moment. It is about a bigger idea in an orchestra.

An orchestral scale, the essence of centuries of accumulated musical thought, instrumental evolution, and compositional experience, is its own universe. When you experience it, you learn new ideas and approaches that might later enrich your solo playing.

I also love teaching, especially working with very young students, teaching children, feeling their trust in me, and watching their development. It’s essential to treat a child with respect, seeing him/her as a small person with the right to ask questions and receive real answers.

I particularly love when students play chamber music together, form harp ensembles, and travel to competitions as a group. The atmosphere in Larysa Klevtsova’s class in Kharkiv, which I remember from childhood, remains my model to this day. She shaped my understanding of what a harp class should be.

— How do new projects and collaborations emerge for you, and to what extent do you have to act as your own career manager?

— You do have to manage your own career. I can approach someone whose performance I liked, offer a compliment, and see from their reaction whether they are interested in collaboration. 

Your career depends on your enthusiasm when you’re young and not yet widely known. You look for people interested in similar things, start playing together, others notice you, and new invitations start coming in.

Yet, taking initiative yourself, exploring, discovering, and proposing ideas, never stops for me. I think it’s good. Even if you already have a circle of musicians you work with regularly, it must not turn into stagnant water. Things need to shift and move a little all the time; it broadens your perspective enormously.

— What role do competitions play at the beginning of a career? What can they give a musician beyond awards?

— First and foremost, participating in competitions gives you connections and repertoire.  Ninety percent of the people I stay in touch with in my professional and personal circles are harpists. I have close friends from my school days in Kharkiv but, professionally, most of the people I know are those I met at competitions, festivals, and masterclasses.

Competitions also are a huge motivation. Their repertoire requirements are substantial, which demands a huge amount of practice. If you prepare for a competition while being a student, it could be the most productive period of your life. You can spend seven hours a day practicing your harp, which you most likely would never do later in life, having jobs, relationships, and other important and necessary stuff.

Competitions give you enormous stage experience, such as how to behave onstage, how much you can memorize, how self disciplined you are, and how you manage under pressure.

However, I wouldn’t say that competitions are for everyone. They require a certain psychological makeup. A musician can be excellent and still not participate in competitions. That is not the end of the world.

At the same time, competitions remain one of the biggest career opportunities, especially if you win. You may receive invitations to perform at concerts or to make a recording. You can even win a harp at the major harp competitions, which is enormously significant for harpists. It’s also a chance to find a future professor if you’re still in school or finishing your bachelor’s degree and looking for a master’s program. So, it is one of the best ways to present yourself, meet people, and grow professionally.

— You began performing abroad and taking part in international competitions and festivals quite early. How did your first opportunities to perform outside Ukraine appear?

— My first trip abroad was to a competition in Bulgaria. I was about fourteen years old. It became possible thanks to my teacher and my parents’ support. School studying always involves a triangle: teacher, child, and parents. If all three align, success follows. If one falls out, it won’t be successful.

Later, I went to a competition in Spain and met representatives of the French company Camac [Harps] with whom I work closely and get tremendous personal and professional support. They eventually became the main sponsors of Glowing Harp and started inviting me to their festivals.

I met the composer Paul Patterson at a harp competition in Wales. One of the rounds required us to play one of his pieces and he was present at the event. That encounter marked the beginning of a long collaboration. Later he dedicated a work to me, with the second movement built on themes from Ukrainian folk songs. He eventually began supporting our charitable foundation as well.

— Tell us more about your foundation and its work.

— We established the foundation in 2018 as part of the Glowing Harp project. At first, we managed scholarships and other project related contributions.

When the fullscale war began, our work expanded dramatically: we supported hospitals and volunteers, particularly those evacuating civilians from frontline areas. Many requests for help came from people we knew.

I played my first benefit concert after I left Russia in Vienna on March 21, 2022. I had many such concerts duringfirst year of war. I even created a map for myself so I could travel as efficiently and affordably as possible, rather than chaotically. Harpists I knew through Glowing Harp helped me enormously. I could arrive somewhere and perform. They would find a venue, gather an audience, and provide an instrument.

Altogether, we raised around 50,000 euros through these concerts. These funds support Ukraine’s wartime needs, Ukrainian culture, and various cultural initiatives.

What can the harp do?

— You spent a year studying with the Baroque harpist Mara Galassi. How does an early harp differ from the modern instrument?

— It’s built differently. There are no levers, no hooks, no pedals. Instead, the instrument has three rows of strings. The outer rows are identical and between them runs a middle row of semitone strings. To play a chromatic note, you literally must slide your fingers into the inner row.

That means, that the instrument is tuned to a specific key so that the middle row is used as little as possible. Mara has about fifteen Baroque harps at home, each tuned differently.

An early harp also demands a completely different way of thinking. Mara Galassi can pick up a harp already tuned to a particular key and start playing. The mindset is harmonic rather than notebased: you think in scale degrees, first, fourth, fifth, and not in individual pitches.

Unfortunately, the specifics of Baroque performance receive little attention in harp programs in Ukraine. We often play notes on a page without truly understanding the style. It’s an enormous world of its own.

The first thing Mara told me was that Baroque music is not strict but incredibly free and improvisatory. Sure, it has its conventions, but nothing is rigidly fixed. That was a small shock for me and opened an endless universe. Whenever Mara gives a masterclass and I can attend, I go.

— What are different approaches to playing harp?

— There are interesting experiments with the electric harp. It’s mostly about exploring additional effects, how to combine them, and how quickly to switch pedals (the effects pedals, not harp pedals). It’s a separate world, and I’m slowly learning it.

The one thing I know I’ll never truly master is jazz. There are some excellent jazz harpists, not many, but they existand they use an entirely different system of building chords, often through enharmonic substitutions. For example, you might play F sharp as G flat to avoid unnecessary pedal changes.

These musicians think differently. I find it fascinating to watch. I want to try some of their ways of playing; others I prefer to observe and admire from the side.

— You have works specifically written for you in your repertoire. How do such collaborations with composers begin and how actively do you take part in creating a new piece?

— I initiated the works that Yevhen Andreiev wrote for Glowing Harp. They were required pieces for the competition and I performed them myself. Other works mostly found their way to me.

For example, Valeriy Antonyuk contacted me about editing an already completed harp duet. We built a good working relationship, and further collaborations grew from there, this time at his initiative.

I take an active part in shaping a new piece, especially when it’s a composer’s first time writing for the harp. We worked closely at the beginning with Yevhen Andreiev; now he sends pieces that need only minimal adjustments. Experience teaches quickly.

It’s important for me to be involved and offer guidance since, in the end, this benefits the harpist and ensures new music is playable and shows the instrument at its best.

Unfortunately, composers often write for the harp as if it were a piano. The only thing the two instruments truly share is the grand staff. That’s where the similarities end.

Some piano textures work beautifully on the harp. The clearest example is SaintSaëns’s The Swan. It was written with a piano accompaniment, but harpists “adopted” it. It suits the harp so well that we proudly claim it as our own. However, pieces like this are exceptions.

Most piano compositions must be adapted for harp and sometimes it simply isn’t achievable. For example, repeated staccatos in the bass don’t translate: the harp resonates, and no amount of damping will prevent the sound from ringing.

Pedals add more complexity. You can’t, for instance, play Anatural and Aflat at the same time. One of the notes must be replaced enharmonically. A composer must understand these details. On paper, the harp and piano may look similar, in practice they are entirely different instruments.

— Has there ever been a case when collaborating with a composer uncovered a new possibility for the harp?

— Yes, one collaboration led directly to what you’re seeing now. I met the Czech composer Jiří Trtík while working on his project in 2022. He wanted to hold a charity concert for Ukraine and wrote an arrangement of Nich yaká misyachna. The ensemble was unusual: two harps, organ, horn, cello, prepared piano, and a choir.

I was determined to present the piece at Glowing Harp, held in Ukraine in 2024, the only festival we managed to organize in the country after the fullscale invasion began. We gave three concerts in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Lviv, working with musicians based in each city.

The scoring of Jiří Trtík’s piece was large, so we recorded every part separately. Depending on who was available locally, we muted certain tracks and played the remaining parts live, with the rest coming from the recording.

In the end, I had all the tracks except the harp. When I competed in the Netherlands in April 2026, I reworked the arrangement slightly, added a harp cadenza, and performed the piece myself.

We later found another striking detail. The composer had written an upward glissando for the cello. When we recorded it in Kharkiv, we noticed that lingering briefly on the high notes makes it sound like an airraid siren.

Now the piece begins with the choir singing the folk song, suddenly cut through by these “sirens” played by the instruments. No explanation is needed in Ukraine; everyone understands instantly. I explain the context when I’m abroad. For me, it’s a way to show our musical reality: a concert, an alarm, and the constant overlap between normal and disrupted life.

Ukrainian repertoire

— How large and diverse is today’s Ukrainian repertoire for harp?

— I would love it if a Ukrainian composer wrote a new largescale work for harp. We have good shorter pieces, not many, but enough. You can put together a full concert of Ukrainian harp music. That alone feels like a victory.

We have short solo pieces that are four to five minutes long, duets, and some longer works. There are also major 20th century pieces such as Anatolii Kos-Anatolskyi’s large harp concerto and Hennadii Liashenko’s striking work for solo harp and chamber ensemble. There is also Glière’s concerto, one of the most frequently performed harp concertos in the world. While our largescale repertoire isn’t extensive; it does include highquality music.

— Your album Ukrainian Patterns, released in March 2026, features Ukrainian works for solo harp and harp ensembles. How did this idea come about?

— Often an idea sits in the back of my mind until the right moment. The British composer Gabriel Prokofiev asked how he could support my work and Ukrainian culture. Suddenly, I realized that this was the right moment.

At the time, I had been performing Ukrainian pieces regularly for several years and had a good sense of what music I wanted to record. I already knew some works that had to be included and I discovered others along the way. For example, I played a concert in Princeton, USA with a pianist who had also studied at our music school in Kharkiv and had lived in America. He played music by Valentyn Sylvestrov. As I listened, I realized that this could work on the harp. That’s how Sylvestrov’s music also found its way into the album.

— How did you choose the program for the album, and what unites these works for you?

— The pieces are not stylistically uniform; some are romantic, and others more avantgarde. I wanted to showcase the different styles of contemporary Ukrainian music.

At first, the program included two additional pieces, which I later removed. Once we began preparing and I listened to the music, I realized that the final selection formed a kind of journey, a shared emotional landscape.

The album spans music from the 1990s to nowadays. Surely, one could dig much deeper, explore earlier centuries, trace how the music evolved, but that would be a separate, largescale research project.

As for the order of the pieces, I knew from the start that Sylvestrov had to come last. Nothing else should follow his music— it’s pure meditation and the only appropriate response is silence. I rearranged all the other pieces several times.

In the end, I decided to open the album with Hennadii Liashenko’s Counterpoints. This avantgarde work has real potential to enter the international harp repertoire since it’s exceptionally well written for the instrument. I played it in the finals of a competition in the Netherlands and many colleagues later asked what was played.

The idea of the album is to show that Ukrainian music is worth performing and that it can form a varied, compelling program. That’s why I included chamber music as well. It’s a small snapshot of what we have today.

Sometimes people say Ukrainian music is wonderful but best used as an addition and not an entire concert. However, this album itself is a full concert, and it’s only one example.

— All the musicians on the recording are connected to Kharkiv. Was that intentional?

— No, it happened naturally. Many of my closest musical friendships formed in my student years.

The album brings together musicians from different generations. My first teacher, Larysa Klevtsova, performs on it, as does the harpist Kateryna Musliienko, who studied three years before me and has long been a close friend. Cellist Maksym Rymar, my former classmate, now works in Lviv. Violinist Dmytro Udovychenko represents a completely different generation; he joined our school after I had already graduated. We crossed paths several times, and when I needed a violinist, I reached out to him.

Only later did I realize that everyone involved was from Kharkiv. This was very moving. It felt like being surrounded by my own people.

Veronika Lemishenko’s Playlist

Six harp recordings recommended by Veronika Lemishenko

— It was a difficult choice, because I wanted to show the full range of the instrument.  I decided to focus on the essentials in the end.

1. Isabelle Moretti — Musique de chambre pour harpe

Ravel, Debussy, Caplet, Cras

This is French Impressionist music, and Isabelle Moretti is one of the harpists whose entire discography is worth hearing.

2. Mara Galassi — Microcosm Concerto.

Haendel

High-quality recordings of Baroque music are especially valuable when performed by artists of Mara Galassi’s caliber.

3. Anneleen Lenaerts — Reinhold Glière, Concerto for Harp and Orchestra

No list would be complete without a large-scale work. It is gratifying to see that Glière’s concerto holds such an important place in the international harp repertoire.

4. Emmanuel Ceysson — Images.

Tournier

This is also French music, which never lets you go. Tournier’s pieces are usually played solo, but Emmanuel Ceysson records them with strings.

5. Nancy Allen — Ottorino Respighi, Ancient Airs and Dances

The key factor in this album is Nancy Allen herself. I wanted to pair an acclaimed harpist with a particularly fitting repertoire choice in the first five recordings.

6. Lavinia Meijer — The Glass Effect

I wanted to highlight the harp’s repertoire possibilities in my final choice. There are more radical contemporary approaches to the instrument, but I decided to choose recordings of Philip Glass’s music performed by Lavinia Meijer. I love listening to this recording to relax, something that musicians do surprisingly rarely.

 

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Read also:

• Ukrainian Early Music Goes Streaming: How to Listen to and Perform Bortniansky’s Opera Creonte
• “Ukraine Is Known Far Beyond the Context of War,” — Music Curator Olha Bekenshtein
• Gambist Salomé Gasselin about visit to Ukraine, Kyiv Baroque Fest and Early Music