The team behind Spiritual Cabaret.

I am a storyteller, and porcelain is my voice.

Each piece I create is entirely handmade — carrying fragments of my own life and the experiences of those I love: friends, family, ancestors, and the stories entrusted to me. When light passes through porcelain, it feels to me like memory becoming visible. The slowness of this process is part of the story itself; each gesture leaves a trace of care, each layer a quiet memory of touch.

Porcelain connects me to both history and the Mother Earth. Its ingredients — kaolin, feldspar, silica — are ancient materials shaped by fire and time. My growing interest in Parian porcelain and early ceramic histories deepens this connection: I see my work as a dialogue with the past, reawakening forgotten material languages through contemporary hands. I often incorporate found and vintage objects into my sculptures — fragments that once lived other lives. In giving them new form, I honor their memory and extend their lifespan, transforming what might be discarded into something luminous.

At the heart of my work is love — love as self-acceptance, as transformation, as the force that unites. I believe that when we truly embrace ourselves, we create peace — within and with one another. The energy we waste on conflict could instead nourish what is fragile and essential: children who grow with awareness, the earth that sustains us, the art that connects us, and the beauty we all share. Unity is the remembrance that we were never truly separate. It is the quiet return to wholeness — within ourselves, with each other, and with something greater than us.

Porcelain — fragile yet resilient, able to hold and filter light — mirrors this transformation. Through its translucency, I shape forms that embody both chaos and renewal: rough textures that speak of hardship, soft curves that whisper of new life, and delicate layers that hold the quiet strength of survival.

Motherhood is the ground of my practice. My daughter was born blind. Through her, I have learned to perceive life beyond sight — to listen more deeply, to feel more fully, and to recognize beauty in the invisible. I homeschool my children because life is fleeting, and I want to savor these years with them — to witness their growth, to learn alongside them, and to cherish the everyday magic of their becoming. They remind me daily that love is not abstract but embodied, transforming struggle into light.

My sculptures are meditations on transformation, love, loss, renewal, and our interdependence with history and nature. They are filled with ancestral echoes and carry within them the stories of both personal and collective memory. Through porcelain — and through the traces of objects once held by other hands — I open portals inviting us to feel more, remember more, and honor what endures beyond the visible.

Sofya Voronko is a Russian-Canadian performer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator. Her art lies at the intersection of music, theatre, and community work. With a background in classical music and musical theatre, she creates immersive performances that integrate voice, movement, and instrumental music — with audience participation as a defining feature.

Sofya draws on folk, pop-rock, cabaret, and musical theatre. Working in English and Russian, her songwriting balances intuition and intellect: lyrics unfold with the ease of natural speech, while her themes are grounded in careful research.

Sofya is the founder of multiple community-driven initiatives, including Sol Multicultural Music Festival and La-La-Larks intergenerational choir. Collaboration is central to her creative process. Her current project, Spiritual Cabaret (in development), is a multidisciplinary performance created in collaboration with porcelain artist Tanya Besedina, blending original music, visual art, and community-based performance.

Selected Projects

Founder & Artistic Director — Sol Multicultural Music Festival (2024–Present) Annual Toronto-based festival supporting collaboration between musicians, dancers, and cultural communities; funded by the Government of Canada.

Lead Singer & Songwriter — HochyuPony (ХочуПони) (2024–Present) Pop-rock project currently recording original music.

Artistic Director — Ave Choir Toronto (2015–Present) Platinum award-winning multicultural SATB a cappella ensemble.

Featured Performer — Telephone (2021) One-woman theatrical performance directed by Ludmila Temianko.

Conductor — Young Voices Toronto Children’s Choir (2018–2021)

Director — Seussical the Musical, Roger White Academy (2016–2017) Also adapted and staged an original production of Narnia for young performers.

Education

Master of Teaching (Music Education) Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto · 2018–2020

Bachelor of Music (Vocal Performance), Minor in Italian Studies University of Toronto · 2011–2015

Community & Teaching

• Founder, La-La-Larks Choir (intergenerational family choir) · 2021–Present
• Private Music Instructor (voice, piano, flute, composition) · 2011–Present
• Classroom Music & French Teacher (various schools) · 2020–Present

Skills

Lead vocals · choral conducting · piano · flute · guitar · ukulele · percussion · composer and arranger for vocal and instrumental ensembles · multilingual performer (English, Russian, French, Italian)

Current Project

Spiritual Cabaret (2025, in development) A multidisciplinary performance merging original music, porcelain art, and participatory community experience, created in collaboration with Tanya Besedina.

Bio coming soon.

Vlad works at the intersection of technology and community arts, helping artists across Toronto build sustainable digital practices without the overwhelm. He has led workshops at libraries, galleries, and community centres across the city.

His practice is rooted in the belief that technology should serve creativity — not complicate it. He designs and delivers programs that strip away jargon and focus on what actually helps artists get their work seen, organised, and shared.

As an IT educator and developer, Vlad brings a rare combination of technical depth and community-facing communication. He has collaborated with newcomer arts programs, public libraries, and grassroots cultural organisations across Toronto’s west end, building tools and resources that meet people where they are.

At Spiritual Cabaret, Vlad leads the digital infrastructure and co-designs technology-focused programming, including the Digital Presence for Artists workshop series.