{"id":3299,"date":"2026-06-18T13:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepersona.com.ua\/victoria-lelek-leleka-3299\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T13:21:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:21:31","slug":"victoria-lelek-leleka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepersona.com.ua\/en\/artists\/victoria-lelek-leleka-3299\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria Lelek (Lel\u00e9ka)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Victoria Leleka (married name Anton, maiden name Korniikova) is a Ukrainian composer and singer, and the founder of the folk-jazz band Lel\u00e9ka and the avant-pop project DONBA\u20b4GRL. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

Place of Birth, Education<\/h2>\n\n

She was born on November 10, 1990, in <\/strong>Pershotravensk (now Shakhtarsk) in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. <\/p>\n\n

She grew up in an artistic family. Her father headed the \u201cShakhtar\u201d Palace of Culture for several years and directed the \u201cVictoria\u201d dance troupe for more than 30 years. The latter was named specifically in honor of the future singer. Her mother, for her part, led a theater club and worked as a lighting director. <\/p>\n\n

Leleka earned her first higher education degree from the Ivan Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theater, Film, and Television\u2014she studied at the acting department in Moiseyev\u2019s workshop. While still a student, in 2011, she won the Grand Prix at the Lesya Ukrainka All-Ukrainian Recitation Competition in Yalta. <\/p>\n\n

Eventually, she gave up her acting career and changed directions.<\/p>\n\n

After that, she went to Germany, where she earned another bachelor\u2019s degree\u2014this time in jazz vocals\u2014and then completed a master\u2019s degree in composition at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden, Germany.<\/p>\n\n

As of 2026, Leleka continues her studies in Germany\u2014at the Babelsberg Film University in Potsdam, where she is pursuing a master\u2019s degree in film composition.<\/p>\n\n

Career<\/h2>\n\n

While studying at the Karpenko-Kary University, the singer worked as an actress at the Molodyi Theater in Kyiv for two years. She appeared in the plays “The Matchmaking in Honcharivka,” “KomA,” and “The Dance of Love.” <\/p>\n\n

At the same time, she appeared in Ukrainian films and TV series.<\/p>\n\n

After moving to Germany, she focused on music<\/strong>. She sang in the Berlin choir Young Voices Brandenburg<\/strong> and also performed with the Flinstones big band<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

In 2016, she won the StuVo Jazz Competition in Berlin in the category of “Unusual Interpretation of a Jazz Standard,” and she also received a scholarship to participate in the New York Voices international jazz vocal camp.<\/p>\n\n

That same year, she founded the folk-jazz band “Lel\u00e9ka” in Berlin<\/strong> together with Robert Winrader, Thomas Kolarczyk, and Jakob Hegner. <\/p>\n\n

Over the next few years, the band began to rack up awards: <\/p>\n\n