In the first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Denys Karachevtsev recorded himself playing Bach’s Fifth Cello Suite in front of bombed-out buildings in Kharkiv. The videos went viral, becoming iconic documents of the beginning of the war. Karachevtsev, aged 30, is a cellist at the opera house in Kharkiv and teaches at the local conservatory. In June, he moved to Berlin, where he has continued to teach online; he’s also working on an artist diploma from the Anton Rubinstein Academy in Düsseldorf. I met him one evening in September with his girlfriend Anna, who helped interpret when Karachevtsev found it easier to express himself in Ukrainian.
Unlimited access to our
