Let's help Roman get his dream accordion

Berlin, 13 January 2023

Berlin, 22 May 2022

Dear Kind Reader,                                                                            

Time flies indeed… I hope you are having a pleasant spring filled with heartwarming moments despite the many difficulties we face today.

It has been more than 7 weeks since (Roman's mom) Nadya arrived in Berlin, and this page has been active for 40 days now. It was truly amazing to see friends and friends of friends react swiftly; we raised 5000 euros within a month, and today we reached 40 % of our goal!

During the last weeks, there was some good and bad news. The teaching job for Roman didn’t work out in the end, nor seems pursuing further studies in France possible for the moment, alas. However Nadya and Roman managed to register here in Berlin, and they are now legal residents of Germany. Roman continues to make living playing on the streets during the day and performing in different concerts in the evening. I was lucky to perform together in some of these concerts and to be able to attend all of them. They were all beautiful moments, and he continues to touch many hearts with his music. 

Another good news is, Ballone Burini has begun the manufacturing process, and it is going much faster than we had expected. With a bit of luck, Roman might have his new, made-to-order instrument of his dream as early as the end of this summer! This also means… we need to reach our goal of 13,000 euros by then and pay the full amount.

Could you please join me in helping Roman and Nadya? Any help, small or big, direct or indirect is truly appreciated.

My continuing best wishes and heartfelt gratitude to all of you,

Sérine

Dear Friends,

 

Could I please have a few minutes of your time? I’d like to introduce Roman Stolbov, an amazing 22-year-old musician from Ukraine to you.

 

Roman and I met preparing for a benefit concert for Ukraine that took place at Berlin’s Zionskirche in March.

I had never sung with an accordion before and wasn’t sure which pieces of my repertoire might be suitable for this instrument. He had never played with a singer and didn’t have any piece to suggest either. During our WhatsApp exchange, I asked him whether he was good at sight-reading, and he was confident that he was. So we decided to just meet at my place and see how it goes without a specific repertoire in mind.

 

From the moment we tried our first piece, I was in awe. Some people are just born with music! We had so much fun that first day, flipping through all kinds of music - opera arias, church music, waltzes, habaneras, tangos, French chansons… for three hours nonstop!

This hasn’t been a month yet, but I feel as though I’ve known him all my life, and that we were destined to meet. You see, music has this power.

The same evening, he had a concert in Zehlendorf which I of course did not miss. I thoroughly enjoyed the full hour, and my eyes were filled with tears for the better part of it.

 

Roman arrived in Berlin last summer, to pursue further studies in Western Europe, never imagining his home would be destroyed by bombing. Kharkiv, only 30 km away from the Russian border has been under heavy bombing from the very beginning of the war.

He finally managed to have his mom out of Kharkiv to relative safety during the last week of March. Her journey was not easy nor simple. The vehicle she was in came under attack during its journey to Belgorod and some were wounded but luckily she was unharmed. She was helped by his friends in different parts of Russia and made her way to the Latvian border which was closed by the time she got there. She continued to Estonia, and a stranger drove her all the way to Riga, from where she traveled by train to Warsaw, and then on to Berlin. She finally arrived at Hauptbahnhof on the last day of March.

 

I see now that it hasn’t even been two weeks! Yet, Nadya and I have already shared many heartwarming moments together. Despite the language gap, I feel as though we’re family as we sit together and share tea, meals, movies and YouTube videos… Berlin will be their home for a few more weeks, and then they will go to Auvergne, France where a music school offered Roman a teaching position and where he can practice as much as he’d like, from 6 am to midnight :)

I don’t know what I’ll do when Roman and Nadya leave for France; I am happy for them, but I’ll miss them so much…

 

I did not know much about the accordion until I met Roman. Like most of us, I’m more used to seeing accordions on streets, not in concert halls, and I admit that I too was ignorant of the different/vast range of this polyvalent instrument. From Baroque to contemporary, pianissimo to fortissimo, from jazz solo to symphony orchestra… accordion can create so many different sounds and atmospheres, all in its own very special colors.

 

Coming back to Roman’s story… when his mom was hospitalized a few years back, he had to sell his accordion and since has been playing a mediocre instrument. This is of course frustrating for him as he can’t do what he can, with this instrument that does not respond.

He’s a truly gifted and dedicated musician and despite his young age, already possesses solid musicianship and astonishing musicality. What he can do amazes me, and I wonder what wonder he’d be able to do with a good accordion.

With a proper classical concert accordion, he’ll be able to participate in competitions; may or may not win (as prizes don’t always go to the best) however this can certainly open more doors for him. Most concertists are spotted on these occasions and make a career from there on.

 

His dream instrument, a made-to-order concert accordion will come from a small, family-run, Italian accordion maker Ballone Burini. He had tried their instruments and loves them for the high quality (although much less expensive than other accordions that cost 30,000 euros or more) and for the kind of care that only small, dedicated, family-run ateliers can give.

13,000 euros is what Roman needs to obtain this accordion that’ll be his companion for the next many years.

It takes about 6-8 months for Ballone Burini to make the instrument and therefore we need to raise the fund of 13,000 euros from the moment the order is placed.

 

Could you please join me in helping him get his dream instrument? Any help, small or big, direct or indirect is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you for reading my epic novel ;)

And truly, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind consideration.

 

Wishing you a spring full of courage, strength and love,

Sérine