Ukrainian violinist, called the "Ukrainian Paganini," pianist, founder of the band PapaDuke, with which he travels the world playing world music, latino, gypsy, and jazz. He can play 15 musical instruments, and each of the band members also plays several musical instruments. He has a talent for composing. The virtuoso's concerts gather large audiences 150-200 times a year. He often performs in Ukraine. Honored Artist of Ukraine (since 2009).
Biography.
He was born into a family of artists. His mother, Svitlana Popadiuk, is a choreographer. His father, Vasyl Popadiuk (1940-1991) from the village of Myshyn, Kolomyia district, Ivano-Frankivsk region, was a famous pipers, a member of the Hryhorii Veriovka Choir, and a leader of the famous Troisty Musicians.
Popadiuk Jr. studied at the Mykola Lysenko Kyiv Specialized Music School from the age of seven. Then he entered the Tchaikovsky Kyiv Conservatory, from where he transferred to the correspondence department of the Mykola Lysenko Lviv Music Academy in his final year.
He served his military service in Kyiv in the song and dance ensemble, which constantly gave concerts for the liquidators of the Chernobyl disaster. Later, doctors recommended that Vasyl Popadiuk change his place of residence, and in 1988 he went to work in Moscow. Here, at the Theater of Music of the World's Peoples under the direction of Volodymyr Nazarov, he mastered playing ten new national instruments of the world and learned the art of transformation. In 1993, he returned to Kyiv, where he played in the Hopak Ensemble and collaborated with the State Roma Theater.
Since 1997 he has been living and working in Toronto, Canada. He is married to Solomiia, the daughter of Ukrainian politician Stepan Khmara, and has three daughters - Moryana, Sofiika, and Katrusia. The family speaks Ukrainian.
In 2003, he took part in the television show The Great Canadian Musical Dream, where he competed with 15 thousand other violinists. In the final, he performed Hutsul Fantasy and took second place.
Discography
Ablaze (1999)
Ablaze II Ten Thousand Miles (2001)
III (2004)
Papa Duke & Vasyl Popadiuk (2006)
