{"schemaVersion":1,"canonicalUrl":"https://uafest.ca/family/vasyl-popadiuk","localizedUrls":{"en":"https://uafest.ca/family/vasyl-popadiuk","uk":"https://uafest.ca/ua/family/vasyl-popadiuk","fr":"https://uafest.ca/fr/family/vasyl-popadiuk"},"entity":{"name":"Vasyl Popadiuk","alternateNames":["Василь Попадюк","Vasyl Popadyuk","Papa Duke","Vasyl Papaduke","Попадюк Василь Васильович","Ukrainian Paganini","Український Паганіні","PapaDuke"],"profileKind":"artist","role":"Violin virtuoso","tagline":"Classically trained violinist from Ukraine, living in Ottawa and performing internationally.","description":"Vasyl Popadiuk was born in Lviv in 1966 into a family of artists. His father, a renowned composer and pan flute player, dreamt of a flutist son. At four Vasyl chose the piano, and by six he had fallen in love with the violin — an outcome, the family story goes, predicted by a stranger before he was born. That love has stayed with him ever since.\n\nAt seven he entered Kyiv's Lysenko school for gifted children, and at eighteen the National Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music. He served his military years in a Kyiv song-and-dance ensemble that played for the Chornobyl liquidators, then toured with Ukraine's Hopak National Ensemble, Kyiv's Gypsy Music Theatre Company and Volodymyr Nazarov's music theatre in Moscow, where he took up ten new instruments. Today he plays fifteen.\n\nThose tours took him to royal and state stages: he performed for the late King Hussein of Jordan, and travelled in Mikhail Gorbachev's cultural entourage on a state visit to Spain, where he played for Queen Sofia. In 1988 he performed in a feature concert at the Calgary Winter Olympics.\n\nSince 1997 he has lived and worked in Canada, and he now makes his home in Ottawa. He was a semi-finalist in CBC's Great Canadian Music Dream in 2003, was named Honoured Artist of Ukraine in 2009, and is often called the “Ukrainian Paganini”. Ian Gillan asked him to play on his solo album; Jesse Cook brought him in as a special guest and onto his album “Beyond Borders”; for years he appeared as special guest to guitarist Pavlo in Canada, the U.S. and the UK.\n\nHis five-piece band Papa Duke — a play on his surname, and on his reputation as the “duke” of gypsy violin — plays what he calls Gypsy World Fusion, with classical, jazz, latin and pop undertones. They have headlined Toronto's Harbourfront and the Burlington Jazz & Blues festival, played the Montreal Jazz Festival with Sophie Milman, and shared the stage with the Mississauga Symphony.\n\nOn 13 September 2026 he raises the flag at UAFest in Carleton Place with his violin, and returns to the Main Stage at 15:10 for his own set.","city":"Ottawa, ON","businessName":null,"offering":null,"officialLinks":{"website":"https://www.vasylpopadiuk.com","instagram":"https://www.instagram.com/vasyl_popadiuk/","facebook":"https://www.facebook.com/100063767700990","youtube":"https://www.youtube.com/@vasylpopadiuk","email":"info@vasylpopadiuk.com"}},"uafest":{"types":["performer","artist"],"years":[2026],"contributions":["Performing"],"projects":[{"name":"Solo violin concerts","role":"Classical, Ukrainian and world repertoire, on festival and concert stages."},{"name":"Papa Duke","role":"His five-piece band — Gypsy World Fusion with classical, jazz, latin and pop undertones."},{"name":"Special guest","role":"He has joined Pavlo and Jesse Cook on stage as special guest."},{"name":"Studio guest","role":"Ian Gillan and Jesse Cook both asked him to play on their albums."},{"name":"Piano","role":"He also plays piano accompaniment for the National Ballet of Canada."}],"relationship":"UAFest Family member"},"media":{"portrait":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/portrait.webp","logo":null,"gallery":[{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/banner.webp","alt":"Vasyl Popadiuk playing the violin with eyes closed, against a warm amber stage backdrop"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/stage-cosmos.webp","alt":"Vasyl Popadiuk performing on a concert stage under a starry blue spiral projection"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/stage-amber.webp","alt":"Close view of Vasyl Popadiuk bowing the violin in a sequinned black jacket"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/stage-lights.webp","alt":"Vasyl Popadiuk alone at the front of a large stage, lit by spotlight beams, orchestra behind him"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/stage-orchestra.webp","alt":"Vasyl Popadiuk and Papa Duke with a full orchestra, his name on the screen above the stage"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/stage-red.webp","alt":"Vasyl Popadiuk in a white shirt, playing under red and blue stage lights"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/studio-portrait.webp","alt":"Studio portrait of Vasyl Popadiuk holding his violin and bow"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/drawing-s-nikus.webp","alt":"Red-chalk portrait drawing of Vasyl Popadiuk by the artist S. Nikus, from his website gallery"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/cover-ablaze.webp","alt":"Cover of Vasyl Popadiuk's first album, “Ablaze” (1999)"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/cover-ten-thousand-miles.webp","alt":"Cover of the album “Ten Thousand Miles” — Ablaze 2 (2001)"},{"src":"/family/vasyl-popadiuk/cover-papa-duke.webp","alt":"Cover of the album “Papa Duke”, featuring violin virtuoso Vasyl Popadiuk (2006)"}],"videos":[{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0noWeeTVM20","title":"Violin Virtuoso"},{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z6nZfNiKI4","title":"Vasyl Popadiuk & Papa Duke — Lark"},{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Niz9NxQXkh8","title":"Vasyl Popadiuk & Sophie Milman — Romance"},{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OedNGE_XOxs","title":"Papa Duke — Sun, live in Montreal"},{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x--0WUCVqE","title":"Once Upon a Time in America — «Людина року 2016»"},{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txwL6j6Syo8","title":"Music is the language of the soul"},{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZNsG1MjxRA","title":"Друзі, цей вечір був для мене особливим"},{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiJtV-lUmgU","title":"Як треба грати на скрипці"}]},"pricing":"Contact the member or business directly for current pricing and availability.","lastModified":"2026-09-11"}