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Photo by Anya Chibis
ANNA PIDGORNA | artistic + executive director
Anna Pidgorna is a Ukrainian-Canadian composer, vocalist, multi-media artist and producer who combines sound, visual arts, and writing to create works that are dramatic and picturesque. She works extensively with opera and voice, draws inspiration from Ukrainian folk singing and the natural soundscape, and incorporates visual elements into some of her manuscripts. Her work has been commissioned, performed and recorded by soloists and ensembles in Canada, USA, Uruguay, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Poland, Ukraine and South Korea. She holds a PhD from Princeton University, an MMus from the University of Calgary, and a BA from Mount Allison University. She took part in Beth Morrison Projects’ Producer Academy in 2024.
Roksolana uhryniuk | visual curator
Born in Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine, Roksolana Uhryniuk is a multidisciplinary artist working with performance, video, installation, drawing, and ready-made. In her practice, she explores the intersections of personal and collective memory, focusing on themes of trauma and adaptation.She has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Ukraine and Canada, as well as in artistic residencies and laboratories. After emigrating to Canada in 2020, her practice expanded to reflect on experiences of displacement, vulnerability, and continuity, while remaining deeply rooted in the Ukrainian artistic context.Alongside her artistic practice, she engages in curatorial work, which she approaches as an extension of her artistic research. Through curatorship, she moves beyond the framework of her own works, engaging with the perspectives of other artists to deepen and broaden the exploration of questions central to her practice.
artists
Photo by Anya Chibis
masha birkby | voice + stage management
Masha Birkby is originally from Kharkiv, Ukraine and has lived in Vancouver since 1995. She has worked backstage in theatre for over two decades in every facet of live entertainment possible. Theatre, dance, magic, festivals, music, special events, corporate — Masha has done it all from the safety of the backstage, whether it be dressing the actors, programming lighting, suspending the trussing above the stage, creating schedules and procedures for everything to come together smoothly. Pickle Underground’s Lamenting for Ukraine was Masha’s first time stepping out from behind the scenes to co-write and perform a piece.
anya chibis | photo + video
Anya is a multidisciplinary artist, photographer, and filmmaker. She holds a BFA (Honors) from Ontario College of Art and Design University and an MFA in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University. Although Anya trained initially as a painter, she fell in love with photography in college. She travelled the world for two decades as a portrait and fashion photographer, working for magazines and advertising clients. She’s now based on the West Coast.
Photo by Anya Chibis
denys panchenko | guitar + composition
Denys Panchenko is a well-known guitarist, composer and educator in Ukraine. He completed a master’s degree and postgraduate studies in Kharkiv I.P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts. Denys is a concert guitarist and a laureate of many international music competitions in Ukraine and Poland. His repertoire includes both classical works and his own compositions. As a soloist he has been invited to play with different orchestras in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipro and Kropyvnytskyi. Panchenko is also a popular guitar composer in Ukraine, and a laureate of international competitions for composers. His music is performed in Ukraine and abroad. His pieces can often be heard at guitar festivals and competitions in different countries.
Photo by Anya Chibis
ANNA SAGALOVA | PIANo
Anna Sagalova is a renowned Ukrainian pianist and Honoured Artist of Ukraine. She completed her Master and Doctor of Arts degrees in Kharkiv I.P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts (Ukraine) and also a postgraduate course in the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar (Germany). Anna is a laureate of many musical competitions in Italy, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Canada and Germany. She frequently plays as a soloist with symphony orchestras throughout Ukraine with conductors from Ukraine, USA, Switzerland, Great Britain, Austria, etc. She has participated in a number of festivals, including the Days of Ukrainian Culture festival in Poznan (Poland), Music festivals in Vigo (Spain), Trier (Germany), the International Music Festival in Lubostron (Poland), the International festival of chamber music in Shanghai (China), Kiev-Music-Fest (Ukraine), and Kharkiv Assemblies (Ukraine).
anna shylova-kolomiets | voice + video + theatre
Anna Shylova-Kolomiets arrived in Canada in 2023, fleeing russia’s aggression. She holds a diploma as a conductor (college), vocal teacher (undergraduate) and theater director (masters). In Ukraine she was a theater director and musician. She worked in the music industry, staging various performances and organizing festivals and concerts. She also worked in cinema as an actors’ assistant, first director’s assistant and casting director in advertising. Inspired by her three children, she organized the creative volunteer project “Brainchild”, a music and theater studio for Ukrainian children to help them adapt to life in Canada. Anna and her husband Alexandr Shylov have a small video production studio Motions Pictures Production where they film advertisements for companies in Ukraine and Canada.
Oleksandr Shylov | video
Oleksandr Shylov graduated from Kyiv International University, majoring in cinematography for cinema and TV. Оleksandr worked as an assistant cinematographer in large feature films at the Dovzhenko Film Studio (Day of the vanquished, Law and other) and the documentary film studio Kyiv Nauch Film. In 2011, Oleksandr shot his first film as a director of photography, Mother by necessity (Mama Ponevoly), continuing on to film such feature films and TV series as When we are at home (2014), Ambulance (2013-2014), Doctor Kovalchuk (2017), Live with wolves (2018), First Swallows (2019-2020), and others. From 2014 to 2022 Oleksandr worked as a cameraman for the travel show The World Inside Out in Nepal, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Colombia. In 2017 Oleksandr and his wife Anna Shylova-Kolomiets founded a small video production studio Motions Pictures Production where they film advertisements for companies in Ukraine and Canada.
board of directors
ANNA PIDGORNA | PRESIDENT
MARIA REVA | TREASURER
SHEENA DHADWALL | SECRETARY
If you are interested in joining Pickle Underground’s volunteer board of directors, reach out to us at pickleundeground[at]gmail.com. We are particularly looking for performing arts enthusiasts experienced in law, accounting/bookkeeping, marketing, fundraising, nonprofit governance, and event planning.
Web design by ANNA PIDGORNA | © Anna Pidgorna 2025