Julia Kuzmina: « I give a chance to every child, and time shows whether he copes or not »
At the end of April, the Narva ensemble “Funny Notes” noted not only in Estonia, but also abroad, celebrated fifty years. The anniversary concert took place in the Rugodiv recreation center and united the participants in the vocal studio of various years. The follower of the ensemble in Narva is the Magic Land team, which has been led by one of the first graduates of “funny notes” by Julia Kuzmina for more than 25 years. Today she is the guest of our editorial office.
News from the inside
VIA “Funny Notes” was created in Narva in 1975, and for more than 20 years he was led by Evgeny Eidemiller. Over the half -century history, the pupils of the team won many times at prestigious music competitions and represented Estonia at international festivals. In 2025, the ensemble celebrated the anniversary with a large festive concert, awakening good nostalgic memories from artists and spectators.
“It was very difficult to realize that Evgenia Alexandrovna Eidemiller was gone a couple of days before the concert. Of course, in a sense, we were lost, but decided: to be a concert. It was a concert of memory. It turned out to be very sincere, many « funny notes » of past years came. There were also many guests who went on the stage in the final. We sang the repertoire of those times and performed new songs. It was the task of showing the best, as Evgenia Alexandrovna always did, ”Julia Kuzmina, head of the Magic Land VIA, told the NG journalist.
Pupils of VIA « Funny Notes » of different years took part in the anniversary concert. All of them took place as personalities, many connected their life with music and creativity. Julia Kuzmina noted that the legendary composition of “Funny Notes” took part in the concert: the very first participant of the collective Natalya Vicks (Ostrrow), also Natalya Shateeva, Alla Yakubova, Natalya Boyko, Natalya Voronchina, Tatyana Izotova, Vadim Vicks, Tatyana Ragul, Daria Laphartova. In addition, talented musicians worked on the stage: Joseph Nikitin, Oleg Janis, Andrei Symbov, Maxim Khrenov, Sergey Bukin, Maria Zraeva.
The organization of the anniversary took a lot of effort not only of its participants, but also the initiator of the concert by Natalia Shateeva. Despite the distances between the cities, all musicians and vocalists were ready for rehearsals and performances.
Who is who?
Julia Kuzmina was in the “family” of “funny notes” when she was 11 years old. At that time, Evgenia Eidemiller was looking for a script musician to fulfill the “melody” of Evgeny Krylatov with the instrumental composition. She came to a music school, where she met Julia. So they began its activities in « funny notes » their today’s leader as a musician.
“In Soviet times, there were two rather professional children’s collective in the Union:“ Mziuri ”from Georgia and“ Funny Notes ”from Estonia. This obliged to match the high level, look good, sing, feel the scene. Evgenia Aleksandrovna admitted to the team with a large selection, it was not so easy to get, there were a lot of people who wanted, and units had such an opportunity, ”recalls Julia Kuzmina.
The repertoire was rather big, and the songs sang in different languages: in Estonian, Russian, English, Ukrainian, French, German and Georgian. Eugene Eidemiller knew the Georgian language well and helped children learn a repertoire.
Then Julia Kuzmina entered the Tartu Musical School of Hayno Eller in the violin class, continuing to visit “funny notes” and working in the Electron ensemble under the leadership of Vitaly Eidemiller. A few years later, Julia returned to Narva, where she worked in the Narva Symphony Orchestra.
“It so happened that in 1998, Evgenia Alexandrovna moved with her family to Germany and invited me to continue her business. I was not confident in my abilities, but I got wonderful children. A successful start took place already in 1999, when we took part in the Saarerea contest important for vocalists. Each of the categories had up to 40 participants, and the girls Tatyana Ragul and Daria Laratova took the first two places in their age categories, ”said NG Julia Kuzmina.
Since 1998, the team continued the traditions of Evgenia Eidemiller, prepared Christmas and New Year’s concerts and serious projects, such as the wider circle festival, speaking at the Energetik Palace of Culture, and since 2004 he continued his activities in the Rugodiv recovery.
Another life
Julia Kuzmin said that she loves nature and animals. She lives outside the city, so she has the opportunity to hold four -legged pets. Now there are five of them in the family – three dogs and two cats. And the head of the VIA « Magic Land » is fond of traveling in his free time. She prefers skiing in the company of family and close friends.
Three simple questions
– How did “funny notes” turn into the “Magic Land” studio?
– It is difficult and impossible to be called the head of “funny notes”, where I myself spent my childhood and youth, taking part in the team as “funny note”, so we changed the name. But VIA “Magic Land” is directly related to the ensemble: the kids who are now engaged in the studio participated two years ago in the concert “Funny Notes”, performing the song “Hippo” with Ekaterina Shlukum. Much of the repertoire of “notes” also sounds in the “Magic Land” repertoire.
– How important is the knowledge of foreign languages for the vocalist?
– Knowledge of languages plays an important role. We sing in Estonian, English, Russian, Ukrainian. Of course, you need to understand what you are singing about. Children are able to learn songs in different languages, and professional musicians and vocalists have pronunciation, text and music fall on ear, so it is easier for them to learn languages.
– How does the Magic Land studio carry out the selection and how does it stand out?
– During the selection, I give a chance to every child, and time shows whether he copes or not. Now we have a large team – almost 30 people. At one time, seven years old, we worked as an instrumental composition. It was a very good experience – to sing and accompany myself, but I faced the problem of replacing musicians.
Many teenagers leave after school-someone in the army, someone to study in other cities and abroad. For this reason, instrumental performance had to be abandoned. Now Magic Land continues to represent Estonia at various competitions, international festivals. More recently, our soloist Vitaly Roshchin represented Estonia at the prestigious international vocal competition of Sanremo Junior in Italy, speaking, accompanied by a symphony orchestra. Regularly, our guys take part in international competitions in Israel, Spain, Armenia, Lithuania, Latvia and, of course, in Estonia.
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