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8-year-old volunteer artist Sophia Nersesian has raised 13 million to support the army!
At the tender age of 8, Sophia Nersesian is already a fully fledged artist. With an incredibly powerful voice, moving songs, and a huge desire to help Ukrainian Defenders, she’s young but already a volunteer artist!
“In the first months of the full-scale invasion, Sophia, who was then just 5 and a half, said,
‘Mom, I want to raise money to feed the soldiers,'” shares the young volunteer artist’s mother, Mrs. Anna.
“When asked how exactly we would collect the money, she immediately said, ‘I will sing!'”
Volunteer Artist: At Five Years Old, Her First Solo Charity Concert!
“Singing is her essence, she has been singing for as long as she can remember!” says Mrs. Anna.
“It’s in her genes, in her blood — from her father and grandfather, and we recently found out that on her grandmother’s side, she’s related to Nina Matviyenko. Sophia has a unique voice timbre — a contralto, quite low, which is a rarity among girls. She’s unique in every way!
And most importantly, for Sophia, singing is her soul!”
Sophia has Ukrainian and Armenian roots: her father is Armenian, but with a Ukrainian heart! He learned the Ukrainian language on his own, and from the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion, he actively started helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“Our whole family got involved in volunteering, and Sophia decided to… organize her own charity concert, no less!”
Said and done: in Kyiv, Ukraine, at the Botanical Garden, they set up a speaker, a donation jar labeled “For the Armed Forces,” and Sophia took the stage for a full-fledged solo concert! She managed to raise almost 15 thousand hryvnias on her first try! The family then took the jar to Serhiy Prytula to donate the funds to his volunteer fund. And when Serhiy asked Sophia where exactly she wanted the funds to go, she seriously replied,
“I want Ukraine to win as soon as possible. That’s why I’m raising money for a big spaceship to put the Russians who came to our country to kill, and send them into space”
It was so innocently direct and yet so maturely serious…
“I remember dreaming of being an astronaut as a child, but your dream is much better,” Serhiy Prytula reacted to Sophia’s remark.
“Sophia is genuine in everything she does — on stage, in life, in singing, and in volunteering. She sings from the heart and knows why her songs are being sung from the stage. Despite her young age, she understands everything. There’s no need to explain to her what’s happening in Ukraine right now, she sees and knows it all: my brothers are fighting, they are all on the front lines, on the forefront…
The daughter sees how we help the military, hears explosions around, and has spent nights in the parking lot with her younger sister and brother, who is only 10 months old, sleeping in the trunk of a car… It’s very hard, and sometimes I am just amazed by my daughter’s incredible strength and endurance: after a sleepless night with the sounds of explosions nearby, she gathers all her strength and prepares for a charity concert — because she wants to help bring our Victory closer!”
“She does it sincerely, from the heart, she wants to engage in it. And we support her in every way possible…”
She takes it very seriously and worries a lot about the Ukrainian defenders. She refuses to agree to ordinary entertainment concerts, only those with a charitable component. There was an instance when she was invited to perform at a New Year’s concert, and Sophia refused — saying,
“I won’t sing happy songs because we are at war”…
“Sophia, although a volunteer artist, is absolutely simple and unstarlike, a normal second-grader who loves games and company. She loves singing for little ones — when she performed for children who lost their parents due to the war, that was the first time I saw my daughter, always so cheerful and energetic, sad and depressed. She cried when hearing the stories of children who lost their parents to the war, deeply moved by their tragedy.”
"Guys, I Sing for You!"
Over two years, the young volunteer artist has raised more than 13 million hryvnias to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces!
“These funds were passed on to various volunteers and charity funds, aimed at meeting the diverse needs of the military,” explains Mrs. Anna.
The volunteer artist has no intention of stopping: she says,
“As much as is needed, that’s how much I’ll support our Defenders!”
“The little artist with the big voice and an even bigger heart,” is how the military refers to Sophia. Their feedback, their gratitude means everything to her. And she always supports the Ukrainian boys in every way possible.
“I remember when Sophia went live, singing for the military, telling them: ‘Guys, I sing for you! Imagine I’m holding your hand, I want to be your support.’ When I heard this, I couldn’t hold back my tears. You can’t teach a child to do this deliberately, it comes from her very heart…”
Recently, Sophia recorded and released a song — “We Need.” In the video, she appeared alongside the incredible defender-volunteer Anatoliy Basenko — “Bas,” who was among those who flew helicopters to blockaded Mariupol in the spring of 2022 to aid its defenders. There, he lost a leg, underwent amputation, and was captured. The video uses footage that Anatoliy, while in the epicenter of military events, recorded on his phone. The video and the song are incredibly powerful, a hymn to the bravery and dedication of our defenders, to the unbreakable faith of Ukrainians in their country, despite all challenges.
“And how Sophia empathized and felt it — indescribable! I can’t listen to it without tears, no matter how many times I’ve heard it…
Our entire family helps and supports the “Azov” battalion (a military formation of the National Guard of Ukraine) — with all we can. We join charitable initiatives, provide and buy lots for charity auctions, Sophia and her younger sister Maria perform at charity concerts.”
Sophia was recently gifted a trident made from metal from “Azovstal” — as a thank you for supporting the defenders of Mariupol. My daughter decided to continue the marathon of good deeds and put this trident — a unique artifact symbolizing our resistance and indomitable will — up for a charity auction. It turned out to be the most expensive lot: the trident was sold for two thousand dollars, and the proceeds went to help our defenders.”
Sophia has received many thanks from the military, and the most special for them was the thank you from the “Azov” regiment. Katya Polishchuk “Ptashka,” a defender of Mariupol, passed on a patch, the “Honor” special unit — a dried bouquet of flowers from Crimea, which now stands prominently in their home. For Sophia, these items are very important, and the most touching are when the military send videos of them on the front line, in the forefront, listening to Sophia’s songs and being inspired by them.
Sophia has held nearly fifty concerts, sharing the stage with many well-known Ukrainian performers — Jamala, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, and she is well-known and highly supported by all our singers.
“My daughter became the youngest soloist of the Honor Guard Orchestra of the Separate Presidential Regiment named after Bohdan Khmelnytskyi — along with it, she opened the charity festival “Heroes Do Not Die” by performing the National Anthem of Ukraine.
“Yet, brothers Ukrainians, fate will smile upon us,” — she sang poignantly from the stage, putting her soul into it… I looked at her and thought: I am calm for our country because with such children we will definitely win soon!”
