- May 20, 2026
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In Africa, they say it takes a village to raise a child. And it took a village of sorts to transport Andrii Padkovskyi out of war-torn Ukraine to a roof in the mythical village of Anatevka in Asolo Repertory Theatre’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Since arriving in Sarasota County in 2022 with the help of a family friend, violinist Andrii, 16, and his brother, clarinetist Yurii Padkovskyi, 21, have been embraced by the musical community spanning the Tamiami Trail from Sarasota to Venice. That’s how the brothers both ended up on stage in Asolo Rep’s “Fiddler.”
To breathe new life into the Broadway musical based on the Yiddish tales of Sholem Aleichem, Asolo Rep Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein decided to cast actors who are also musicians. On opening night, Rothstein told the audience that he auditioned about 1,000 performers, both locally and in New York City, to find the 26 members of his cast.
Andrii Padkovskyi got the titular role. He plays on the roof as the musical’s protagonist, Tevye the Milkman (Jeremy Radin), ponders the existential and societal threats to his Jewish family in 1905 Russia. Yurii plays clarinet with the ensemble cast.
The Padkovskyi brothers’ journey to the stage of FSU Center for the Performing Arts, where “Fiddler” is playing, began in February 2022. As Russia invaded Ukraine, Andrii and his mom piled into their car and left their home in the city of Lviv. Traffic was backed up for miles and it took the family nearly two days to travel the 40 miles to the Polish border, says Yurii, who acts as the spokesman for the family.
At this time, Yurii and his older brother, Sasha, a pianist, were studying in the Czech Republic. They later reunited with the rest of the family in Poland. “People were scared and wanted to leave because Lviv is near a military base and they thought it would be bombed,” explains Yurii. “So people were heading to Poland in cars, on bicycles, even walking with their things. Sasha and I had a safe place for them. We waited for them to come, but it was really long.”
Of the family members, Yurii is the most fluent in English. He translated answers to a reporter’s questions during a recent interview in the Observer’s offices. He is quite protective of his younger virtuoso brother.
The Padkovskyi brothers and their mother were able to find their way to Florida through the help of a former neighbor in Ukraine who was then living in Port Charlotte. The woman’s son used to play with the brothers and take music lessons with them in Lviv, says their mother, Tamara Doroshenko.
After the family settled in Venice, they started attending the Venice Presbyterian Church. The church’s music director, Donna Smith, steered violinist Andrii to Marcus Ratzenboeck, concertmaster of The Venice Symphony who also plays violin with Sarasota Orchestra.
The Venice-Sarasota music network had started to kick in. Ratzenboeck brought Andrii to the attention of Lena Kampis. A violinist and violist on hiatus from the Sarasota Orchestra, Kampis is the co-founder and executive director of the Sarasota Music Conservatory.
The nonprofit conservatory helps train promising young musicians and prepare for competitions. Winners of the conservatory’s competitions get to play side-by-side with performers in organizations such as the Perlman Music Program Suncoast and The Pops Orchestra.
Success has many fathers, so it’s no surprise that everyone wants credit for helping to discover Andrii Padkovskyi. Kampis wants to set the origin story straight.
“We discovered him (Andrii) at our yearly concerto competition in November 2024,” she says. “Marcus is my friend and colleague and we were discussing the Sarasota Music Conservatory Competition. He said, ‘I have this new student you should look at.’”
Along with one other winner, Andrii was given the opportunity to perform with The Pops Orchestra of Bradenton and Sarasota, which plays regularly at Riverview Performing Arts Center in Sarasota and SCF/Neel Auditorium in Bradenton. It was at The Pops that the future “Fiddler on the Roof” came to the attention of Asolo Rep’s Rothstein, says Robyn Bell, artistic and managing director of the community orchestra.
“For our March 2025 concert, ‘Love It Like a Local,’ we featured nine local performers and partnered with the Sarasota Music Conservatory to present the first- and second-place winners of their November 2024 concerto competition. Andrii had come in second place for that competition, so he performed his piece with us, which was the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto,” Bell said.
Another performer at that fateful Pops concert was Asolo’s senior props manager, Frank J. Paul, who is also a talented vocalist. “Peter (Rothstein) came to our concert at Riverview Performing Arts Center to watch Frank perform. That’s where he discovered Andrii, who performed on the second half of the program,” Bell says. “About a week later, Peter reached out to me for Andrii’s contact information.”
When Andrii connected with Rothstein and others from Asolo Rep, he told them about his clarinet-playing brother. That’s how Yurii won the chance to audition for the musical.
For two relatively recent arrivals to the U.S., being thrust into long hours of rehearsal with professional Asolo Rep players was both exhilarating and challenging.
“People talk about how it’s hard to sing and dance at the same time, but it’s also very hard to play your instrument while moving,” Yurii says. “It’s like being in a marching band but without the music in front of you.”
What smoothed the transition from classical music lessons to life on an Actors Equity stage was the patriarchal presence of Radin, who plays Tevye. “He really brought the cast together. He’s funny and he tells jokes, just like his character,” Yurii says as Andrii nods with his sweet but inscrutable smile.
What is it about Andrii that has inspired so much support for him in Sarasota and Venice? According to Kampis, part of it is his family’s dramatic escape from war in Ukraine and finding a safe home in Florida. But that’s only part. It’s Andrii’s shy, unassuming manner, coupled with outsized talent, that makes people open their hearts, she says.
“He’s got a violin personality,” Kampis says. “He’s tall and very obviously at ease on the instrument. He’s a musician at heart. Of course, when people learn he came from Ukraine, it’s very endearing. People like a story, but there’s something more. There’s a soul to Andrii’s playing. You can’t teach that. But you can work with it to help it come out.”
That’s what the musical village in Sarasota County has been doing.
