'After Feb. 24, everything changed': Ukrainian pianist who escaped war makes new life in the suburbs

Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Nataliia Kuryliak filled a backpack with personal documents, diapers, a blanket and medicine for her 6-month-old son, Adrian.

She grabbed his stroller and started a journey that led her to America.

"After Feb. 24, everything changed," said Kuryliak, originally from Koropets, Ukraine. "My story has a happy ending. Me and my son are safe now."

Kuryliak, 27, now is a piano instructor at the Christopher Laughlin School of Music in Northbrook. Her personality, skills and experience as a player and instructor got her hired in March and are what continue to attract students of all ages.

Kuryliak didn't know things would turn out OK at the time. All she knew was she had to get her son out of Ukraine.

Her father, Mykhailo, nearly 60 at the time, had been summoned for possible enlistment into military service. But after a medical examination, he was told he could remain in Koropets, a 600-year-old village in western Ukraine.

Kuryliak lived there until age 15, when she left to attend the Denys Sichynskyi Music College in Ivano-Frankivsk. She then got her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Lviv National Music Academy.

Now a multi-instrumentalist, Kuryliak started playing in a chamber orchestra at 17, eventually becoming a concert master.

When the war with Russia began she was living and working in Ivano-Frankivsk, and without a car.

Kuryliak had her father drive her and Adrian back to Koropets, but feeling unsafe there too. she quickly decided to head to Poland, where her mother lives in Wroclaw, halfway across the country.

Her father drove them back to their apartment in Ivano-Frankivsk, and through a Ukrainian equivalent of Uber, Kuryliak arranged a ride west.

Her driver didn't take them all the way to the border, though. In winter's chill, the young mother walked the remaining 9 bumpy kilometers with Adrian in his stroller.

Cars were stacked for days waiting to cross the border, Kuryliak said.

"At that time, I understood that a mom can do everything," she said. "I was walking and walking and walking. We were walking maybe for five hours."

Arriving in Poland on Feb. 28, Kuryliak and her son spent three months with her mother in Wroclaw.

Kuryliak and Adrian flew to Chicago from Warsaw in May 2022 under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's United for Ukraine Program, which allows refugees a temporary two-year stay provided they have a supporter here who can help them financially.

She now lives in Niles with an aunt and uncle.

"I loved my life in Ukraine and I miss it," she said. "When I went to work at the Christopher Laughlin School of Music it was like a breath of fresh air."

She researched the school and its director. Decorated guitarist Christopher Laughlin's education at the Peabody Conservatory and at Yale, and his international performance background, convinced Kuryliak to apply.

"I was sure he wouldn't even look at my application, but here I am," Kuryliak said.

Laughlin said Kuryliak came with a "solid educational background."

"Her pianism is very strong, she is very well-spoken and very thoughtful about teaching," Laughlin said. "She has good experience teaching and I thought her personality would work really well in our community.

"She's very friendly and open. She is willing to work with students of all ages, levels, and abilities. She's open to new ideas and personal growth as a teacher and as a musician."

Adrian, now nearly 2, attends a Polish day care center, allowing Kuryliak more time for her music.

Kuryliak teaches students 5 years old and up Wednesdays and Thursdays, and as the school needs help in a pinch.

"Different musical games is the best option for children, in my opinion, because they learn while they play," she said.

Though Kuryliak and Adrian have learned new traditions and new holidays, Ukraine never is far from Kuryliak's mind.

She prays for her country's victory in the war, and connects daily with relatives at home to make sure they are safe.

Uniting for Ukraine being a temporary program, Kuryliak realizes she and her son eventually must return to a home Adrian never really knew.

"I don't have any hopes about extending the program," Kuryliak said. "Only hope and belief in our victory."