Kateryna Pavlenko

Kateryna Pavlenko (Ukrainian: Катерина Анатоліївна Павленко; born August 10, 1988, Nizhyn, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian singer, folklorist, composer, and soloist of the Go_A band.
Biography.
She was born in 1988 in Nizhyn, Chernihiv region. Kateryna's mother is a former soldier. Raised by grandparents.
Due to unsatisfactory living conditions, she developed lung disease. As a teenager, she underwent several surgeries, including surgery to remove a lung tumour. After that she can't sing in the traditional way. "The sound is not formed in my lungs or bronchi, because there is not much space there, but somewhere here (points to the back of the head). This is especially true of high notes," she said.
During her school years she studied at the Nizhyn Music School in the vocal and choral department. She sang in the children's choir "Shine". She studied instruments - piano and guitar. According to Pavlenko, teachers guided her to pursue opera singing in the future.
In 2009 she graduated from the Nizhyn School of Culture and Arts named after Maria Zankovetska with a degree in folk choir conductor (faculty - folk choir).
During her studies at the school she was a member of several local rock bands: "Contours of Shadows", "My spirit".
In 2009-2013 she studied at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts at the Faculty of Music (specialization "Folklore").
During her student years she directed the ensemble "Vytynanka", sang in the ensemble "Queen" (KNUKiM).
She studied the folklore of the left-bank Kyiv region (Baryshiv district, Berezani suburbs, etc.). She was interested in the folklore of Chornobyl Polissya.
In 2012, she joined the band Go_A, six months after its creation. At first, she performed as a backing vocalist, later she became a soloist.
As part of the band Go_A released 1 studio album "Go to the sound" and several singles.
Since 2017, Pavlenko has been the leader of the Veterans' Choir in Berezan (Kyiv Region) at the City House of Culture. Under her leadership, the choir won the title of folk. According to Kateryna Pavlenko, this is one of the strongest feelings when 30 voices sing under her direction.
At the same time she wrote poems and solo songs, which he published under the pseudonym "Monokate".
On February 22, 2020, together with the band Go_A, she won the National selection for the song contest "Eurovision-2020" with the song "Nightingale". Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the contest was cancelled, but Go_A represented Ukraine next year at Eurovision-2021 with the song SHUM. In the final of the competition, the band took the 5th place in the sum of points from the national jury and the spectators (according to the results of the spectator voting - the 2nd place, and in the semifinals the team won the 1st place).