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Mariia Petrovska - a captivating and uplifting voice for Ukraine

  • joahughejh
  • Sep 21
  • 3 min read

Updated: Sep 25

Mariia Petrovska sitting in front of a large audience playing a bandura and singing. The studio is dark and lit by a number of blue and yellow spotlights overhead. There is a n Ukrainian flag visible hanging above the audience.
Mariia Petrovska, performing to a full house at Farnham Maltings (image credit: Jo Hughes)
Mariia Petrovska - Benefit Concert for Ukraine
Tuesday 9 Sept 2025
Tindle Studio, Farnham Maltings

Ukrainian singer and bandura player, Mariia Petrovska, enchanted us all on her Surrey concert debut at Farnham Maltings on 9th September.


When Mariia asked the audience if anyone had heard the bandura before, only two hands went up (and one of them was ours). If we had any worries that this concert might be a tough sell, the wonderful local community eased our anxieties a few weeks earlier. Farnham is a town that has opened its heart to many Ukrainians seeking refuge from the war and the community's support was amply demonstrated by a full house for Mariia on a school night!


We were aware that the bandura is the national folk instrument of Ukraine. What we had not realised was the history of the bandura and the musicians who played the instrument. It makes for very harrowing reading. Since the late 19th century, bandura players have suffered violent persecution, even execution, for practicing their art. The fact that we can still hear music performed so beautifully on the bandura in the hands of a talented young artist such as Mariia Petrovska is a miraculous experience.


In a first half of mostly Ukrainian songs, Mariia matched the resonance of the bandura with her clear angelic vocals and took us on an emotional journey. Even if many in the audience did not speak Ukrainian, we all understood the sentiments. There were joyful songs celebrating Ukraine’s natural beauty, songs that conveyed a deep longing for home, and a particularly beautiful and inspiring song about the strength we draw from a mother’s love. 


"Thank you for an incredibly inspiring evening! When I watched how enchanted and delighted the English people were listening to you, my soul sang with joy!"

"Дякую за неймовірно натхненний вечір! Коли я дивилася, як зачаровано, з якою насолодою англійці слухають вас, моя душа співала від радості!"

-- comment from a member of the audience to Mariia



Mariia had “a few surprises” for us in the second half. Her arrangements of Bill Wither’s Ain’t No Sunshine and Just the Two of Us revealed the bandura’s versatility. This transition to songs in English seemed a fitting reflection of Mariia’s move to the UK to live and study after the Russian invasion. Only a few weeks before this gig, she graduated from the British Irish Modern Music University in Manchester with a degree in songwriting and performance.


When the Maltings audience joined in to sing Wild Mountain Thyme and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, it really brought home the close connection that has developed between the people of Ukraine and the UK.



The concert is organised as a partnership event with Invisible Visible, a new exhibition by our friends, Ukrainian photographer Natalia Sharomova and the Ukrainian Art Group at art for wellbeing charity, Creative Response. The exhibition is open at the Foyer Gallery at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham until September 28.



Thank Yous

  • Thank you Mariia for sharing your music with us and for being a truly inspiring voice for Ukraine. To find out where Mariia will be performing, follow her on Facebook, Instagram

  • To everyone in the audience for your support. We raised £372 for the Humanity and Inclusion Ukraine Appeal and Creative Response.

  • We dedicated the concert to our Ukrainian friends in Farnham, Natalia, Mariya, Larisa, Nina, Olga, and the Ukrainian Arts Group at Creative Response … you have enriched our lives more than we can say.

  • To the arts community in Farnham for creating a wonderfully supportive environment for people from Ukraine: everyone at Creative Response, and at the University for the Creative Arts.

  • Thanks to the lovely team at Farnham Maltings who responded so quickly and enabled us to hold the concert with only 4 weeks’ notice. To Alison on Front-of-House and Duncan on sound.

  • Thanks to the local media, Farnham Herald, BBC Radio Surrey and Vantage Point magazine, for helping us to publicise the concert.


Set List

  • Oh, You Little Lark (Ой ти жайворонку)

  • Beneath the Cloud (Під облачком)

  • The Dove Flew Up (Злетів голуб)

  • Under the Oak (Під дубиною)

  • Autumn Has Passed (Вже осінь відійшла)

  • Everywhere Untruth and Captivity (Кругом неправда і неволя)

  • A Mother’s Love (Материнська любов)

  • Oh, Sleep Walks (Ой ходить сон)

  • I Am Happy Since Birth (Я щаслива зроду)

  • Don’t Come to Me (Ти до мене не ходи)

  • Macedonian songs (Македонські)

  • Little Daws (Галочки)

  • The Girl Grazed the Swans (Пасла дівка лебеді)

  • The Dove Flew Up (Злетів голуб)

  • A Mother’s Love (Материнська любов)

  • Ain’t No Sunshine

  • Just the Two of Us

  • Wild Mountain Thyme

  • Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

  • In the Meadow (Ой у лузі)

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