Ukrainian violinist Oksana Protas, who escaped from Russian bombs: “I was very lucky in Lithuania”
After saying goodbye to her husband Yaroslav at the Ukrainian border, Oksana came to Lithuania with her 14-year-old son Nikita and her mother-in-law at the end of March.
Lithuania was not an unknown land for them. Her mother-in-law and mother-in-law were born in Vilnius – Oksana’s husband’s grandmother. Her husband’s relatives live in Vilnius.
Oksana has recovered and is standing more firmly on her feet, because she has already found a job in Lithuania. Since September 1, she is a violinist of the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra led by Gintaras Rinkevičius. The musician found a job in the orchestra within a week.
“Lithuania is simply a fantastic country. I was very lucky here”, O. Protas was happy.
Her son Nikita attends the 9th grade of Joachim Lelevelis Engineering Gymnasium in Vilnius, and his mother rushes to rehearsals every day.
Oksana attends a Lithuanian language course, and in her spare time she sometimes goes on a guided tour of Vilnius because she wants to get to know the city better.
– Oksana, before the war, when Russia attacked Ukraine, you worked at the Dnipro Opera and Ballet Theater. How was your career there?
– At first, I played in the group of first violins of the theater orchestra for eight years. After that, I was the deputy concertmaster for two years, and I was the concertmaster of the orchestra for two years before the war.
– Where were you, what were you doing when the Russians attacked Ukraine and started the war in the early morning of February 24, when you heard the first bomb explosions?
– That day we woke up as usual, around 8 o’clock. Panic set in when they found out what was going on. We watched the news on TV: everyone is running, running. It got scary. The first blows fell on Kyiv, in the north of the country, and Uman, in central Ukraine. My parents and brother live there. One of the first bombs fell in Umane. They called how everything happened. He was nearby and saw everything.
During the first days of the war, we lived in fear and terror, never turning off the television for a moment. All Ukrainian TV channels broadcast only news and continue to broadcast it 24 hours a day. No movies, no concerts until now.
We watched to answer from the country. Was scary. We lived like this for three or four weeks. I’m going to the volunteer center. There we sorted things, helped refugees from other districts, people who came from the border.
Performances were canceled in our theater, and a volunteer center was established there. We collected clothes, other things, medicines, money for people who lost their homes or were in the hospital. We filmed scenes about helping Ukraine to inspire the fighting spirit of the army.
Then the bombs started falling from our house. I once woke up at 6 a.m. and someone was whistling overhead, above the house. It’s like a sound that’s never been heard before. And you understand that a rocket is flying here. And out of horror – that sound lasts only a few seconds – you freeze, unable to move or move.
He explained to me: if you hear a rocket buzzing over your house, that’s good, it means it’s still far away, it will pass by.
Then the bombs started falling both in Dnipro and neighboring districts. It fell at the other end of the city, close to the house. When you hear air raid sirens for days on end, you freeze up, can’t do anything, and realize you’re out of control.
– When did you make the decision to leave home and leave Ukraine?
– At the end of March. For a long time, the man persuaded him to leave, because it is not safe here. Mother-in-law and husband’s relatives called from Vilnius: how terrible it is for you, come to us in Lithuania. When the bombs fell and the road fell near our house, the man convinced us to leave.
It was very difficult to make this decision. When you leave the house and realize that you may never come back to it again, because you don’t know if that house will remain healthy or not, it’s very scary.
We live in a two-room apartment in Dnipro. My husband is an architect, we redid everything according to our needs with such love. We have equipped everything we need very comfortably. We love our home very much and leaving it was very difficult for me. I cried and packed my bags for three days, I didn’t want to pack them.
The cat also got sick, her temperature rose sharply, she felt bad, she just lay there, and you won’t leave her. If a man went to war, who would care? I took it to the vet, he gave me antibiotics, syringes – travel with the cat. And the three of us sat in the car with the cat.
– As soon as we met, you said that you are a young driver who made a difficult journey from Ukraine to Lithuania. How was your trip?
– In the summer two years ago, when the quarantine was released, I convinced my husband that I needed to keep my driver’s license. I kept those rights, we bought a car.
And then he decided to get into the car and drive to Lithuania. My driving experience was then one and a half years. Driving 2,000 kilometers was scary, because it was a difficult road – anti-tank hedgehogs were placed everywhere on the roads to prevent Russian tanks from passing.
– Didn’t the man accompany you?
– When we drove through Ukraine, my husband also drove with us, he accompanied us. There were no Russian soldiers there then, only the bombs were falling.
There were lines of people at the wall. My husband and I said goodbye and he quickly drove off. He does not like long goodbyes and tears. We talk on the phone very often.
Men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country.
– In Vilnius, at least initially, did you stay with relatives?
– We are staying with my mother-in-law’s cousin in Žirmūnai. My mother-in-law has many relatives in Lithuania. As soon as you start talking to someone, you will definitely find relatives or neighbors, because Lithuania is a small country.
But the mother-in-law did not live in Lithuania for 50 years. At the age of 20, she married a Ukrainian and went to live in Ukraine. She graduated from a Russian school in Vilnius. Now, when I attend a Lithuanian language course, I sometimes consult her. She has a lot to remember.
At first, we could stay with relatives, but not all the time. I keep saying that Lithuanians are holy people. And our relatives, holy people, received us with my violin and cat.
– Finding a job in a foreign country is a separate and complicated story. How did you look for a job in Vilnius? You must have done the Stations of the Cross?
– I wrote e-mails to Lithuania from Ukraine. I didn’t know you had such a thing as separate orchestras, so I wrote to the Opera and Ballet Theatre, the National Philharmonic.
When I arrived in Vilnius, I received an answer that there was no vacancy for a violinist. “But we will pass your letter on to others,” he added.
The mother-in-law’s cousin also helped – she called various organizations. “Yes, we saw that letter, but we have – we regret – no free space,” he answered her and added that he would pass my letter on to others.
I sent about ten emails in total. I have no idea how my letter is constantly sent to the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. I didn’t even know such an orchestra existed.
But one day I received an email from the orchestra director asking me to call. I called. He said that there was a vacancy for a violinist in the orchestra and invited him to talk about the future.
We arrived in Vilnius on Monday maybe 9, maybe 10 pm. I already came to the first rehearsal on Friday. I’m still amazed at how quickly it all happened.
– You didn’t even have time to get a good night’s sleep after the trip and recover from the stress?
– I guessed. While I was in Ukraine, I hardly slept. Only when I came to Lithuania, when I calmed down, I finally started to sleep.
I was very nervous before the first rehearsal. But I was told the night before: come, the 9th symphony of Gustav Mahler will be rehearsed. I took the violin, the sheet music and played in the rehearsal, and I couldn’t believe that life went on. New team, very big, unknown to me. But this activity brought me back to life.
A new team, very big, unknown to me. I was afraid that if you don’t speak Lithuanian, you won’t understand anything at all. But it turns out not so terrible – all music terminals are Italian, so I know them. After returning home, I immediately started learning numbers in Lithuanian – they are very necessary in the work of a musician.
I was accepted into G. Mahler’s 9th symphony program – this is the practice in orchestras. I worked on that program in April and May. Then she said that if I want to work with her for a longer time, I will definitely have to audition for the vacant position of violinist.
Maestro G. Rinkevičius set the date of the audition – it took place at the end of May, he chose what would be played. I prepared for this audition like an exam. Even more seriously. Due to the fact that during the exam your teachers know you, and here no one knew me, besides, I was in such a situation that I needed to feed my family.
Musicians usually work for more than money. I work out of love for music, out of respect for the menu. I really like my job, I enjoy doing it. And it used to be the same as how much I would be paid.
So this is basically preparing for the audition. I went on stage and performed as a soloist an excerpt from Mahler’s 9th symphony, as well as works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Piotr Tchaikovsky. There was another Ukrainian from Kiev who also auditioned and applied for that vacant place.
And now I am an employee of the orchestra – a violinist. There are 17 first violins in the orchestra, and I am among them.
In the summer, I received a scholarship from the Lithuanian Cultural Council. For that scholarship, I worked in an orchestra in the summer, we traveled around the regions with concerts. And since September 1, I am a full-time employee of the orchestra.
The orchestra is very good, the level of craftsmanship is very high. Maestro is simply fantastic. I, the orchestra player, must understand what the conductor is showing. Understanding the conductor’s bridge is a whole art. The conductor’s instrument is the orchestra. And the more he controls his orchestra, the better the orchestra plays.
– How does your husband spend his day in Dnipro?
– All of Ukraine continues to work to maintain normal life. For security reasons, lectures with students take place remotely. Jaroslav teaches remotely at the Academy of Construction – he lectures from home. Dnipro has 2-6 air raid sirens a day and has to go into hiding every time.
– You have already moved out of your relatives’ apartment. Was it difficult to find housing in Vilnius?
– We rent a two-room apartment, me, my son and mother-in-law live in it. It was very difficult to find an apartment, because you had problems with apartments before.
We searched, we looked, but once again it was a coincidence – we were lucky. I met in Vilnius – also by chance – an old friend from Dnipro.
When our children were little, she and I would walk together pushing strollers. She was also looking for an apartment. We thought: maybe we can find a big apartment and live two families together, because we get along well with her.
Once she was riding a bus and met a man, he asked if she needed any help. After some time, he called and said that his acquaintance was renting out an apartment and wanted Ukrainians to live in it.
And my friend changed her mind at that time – she decided to return to Ukraine. She called me and said there was an apartment. So we moved into that apartment a week later. That’s why I say: Vilnius is simply a fantastic city.
We have division of labor. I go to work – to rehearsals, and my mother-in-law, in order not to be sad, does the household. To do hard work, you know, and I already help. She is retired, but she wants to feel needed. And when she does something, she cares, she feels needed. Then she’s better off.
– Have you been to Lithuania before?
– I was in Vilnius only once six years ago. The husband used to go more often, because the mother-in-law wanted her mother, the aunt likes her.
Then we really liked Vilnius. I liked Lithuanian culture, Lithuanian mentality – they are restrained, delicate, never say anything unnecessary, behave calmly. And your climate is great – it’s not as hot as ours, when it’s 35-36 degrees for three months in a row, and 28 degrees at night, the weather doesn’t have time to cool down.
You are very well. Therefore, Lithuania, Vilnius was not a random choice for us. We knew we were going to a new country where I could feel good.