Most of us were only graced with a minor ability to play the recorder as 9-year-olds, but not Karolina Protsenko.
The youngster has a musical talent like no other – in playing the violin.
Violin is known as one of the most difficult string instruments to learn. It doesn’t have frets, so getting your fingers in the right positions is trial and error. This makes playing in tune far from an easy feat.
But you wouldn’t know that when you see Karolina take to the stage with her violin.
Now 12, Karolina was born in Ukraine in 2008. When she was 6, she moved to the United States with her family.
Music runs in Karolina’s blood. Both her mom and her dad play the guitar, though Karolina decided to take a different route with the violin.
She first picked up a violin aged six, and three years later, she’d taken to the street as a professional busker.
You can tell that Karolina lives for public performances, and her crowd loves her. They stop to take videos and appreciate her incredible musical talent.
It’s clear that Karolina has a huge passion for performing when you watch her play. She puts her everything into each song she plays, and it’s something you can’t help be moved by.
Off the streets, Karolina has a huge online following, with 4.66 million subscribers on YouTube alone.
It’s hard to pick a favorite from her performances. She covers everything from pop songs to timeless classical hits, often collaborating with other talented musicians from all over the world.
But one video in particular that stole the hearts of the internet, with 5.7 million views, is her birthday party performance of Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito”.
The song was a huge hit when the Spanish version was released in 2017, so much so that a Spanish/English version with Justin Beiber was released later in 2019.
But we’d almost go as far as to say that Karolina’s violin sounds better than Fonsi and Beiber.
In the video, Karolina stands before a small audience gathered around her in chairs, looking a picture of elegance in a white dress, a pink flower in her hair.
One of the adults is already up on her feet dancing as Karolina begins to play, obviously anticipating the sort of performance you’d pay hundreds of dollars to see.
By the time the music kicks in, the whole room is enraptured by Karolina’s beautiful violin-playing talent.
She dances about her makeshift stage, and you can tell she feels every note with her passionate performance.
It’s hardly a surprise that so many people have fallen in love with Karolina’s musical abilities.
After going viral more times than any musician can hope for with her busking videos, Karolina achieved every wannabe famous person’s goal: appearing on The Ellen Show.
She performed a cover of “Sunflower” by Post Malone, then had a brief interview with Ellen, admitting that she was busking to save up up for a dog.
Ellen, as always, went all-out in treating Karolina, presenting her with a custom blue violin with commemorative “As Seen on Ellen” stickers, and a busking tip jar which she filled with enough cash for about 200 puppies.
If you haven’t seen Karolina’s “Despacito” performance yet, it’s a great place to start.
But just a warning: if you’re supposed to be working, you’ll be guaranteed to lose yourself in at least an hour’s worth of violin videos after watching Karolina play!
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