Vladyslav Biliachenko

My name is Vlad Bilyachenko, I am 18 years old. I started playing saxophone when I was 9 years old, and at the age of 14 before entering the Kyiv academy, one of the best academies of Ukraine I was sure that I wanted to tie my life with music. On the 1st of September 2019, I started my studies at the Glier Academy of Music in Kiev. And now I am finishing it online, with one semester left. All these years I was one of the best students in my course, with very high grades and saxophone levels. I have won many prizes at regional, national and international competitions. The most recent from them were 1st place in the distance competition in Prague and 2nd place in Italy. This was in 2021. I had one global goal for the last year and a few months - To get into the Royal Academy of Music in London, I had heard a lot about it and its level, and I gave my all to my saxophone lessons to get in. On March 8, 2022, I came to the Czech Republic because of the war. I was staying there till 6th of January. After arriving in the Czech Republic I sent my recordings to various academies around the world, but the main one was the academy in London, and the first teacher who responded to me was from the Royal Academy. Huw Wiggin said my recordings were great and in the course of the correspondence offered me a place at the academy, I was incredibly pleased. In the summer of 2022, I took part in the Crescendo Summer Music Institute in Budapest. I have been working on my English all last year, studying at the Kiev Academy remotely, and taking classes at the Ostrava Music Conservatory for one semester. I worked hard and dealt with all the paperwork to come and study here. I arrived in London within a week of receiving my sponsorship visa, so badly I wanted to be here. I got a scholarship to study for all four years and I will start my studies next September. I now have daily saxophone lessons at the academy as well as some classes, and the opportunity to attend some lectures and many concerts, I am incredibly excited about this. I will do my best to become better and to show the level of my perseverance and my country, because music is my weapon and I want to show the whole world one day how talented Ukrainian musicians are!