1. Kseniya Simonova is a Merited Artist of Ukraine and rose to prominence in 2009 after winning Ukraine's Got Talent.
47 Facts About Kseniya Simonova
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Kseniya Simonova is the only one to receive two Golden Buzzers on two "The Champions" series of the Got Talent franchise: America's Got Talent: The Champions and Britain's Got Talent: The Champions, both in 2019.
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Kseniya Simonova's mother, Irina Simonova, is an artist, a theatrical designer, and teacher of fine arts.
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Kseniya Simonova's father, Alexander Simonov, is a former military officer who owns a furniture design company.
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Since she was a child, Kseniya Simonova painted, drew, and designed with her mother.
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Kseniya Simonova's parents discouraged her from a career as an artist.
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In 2007 Kseniya Simonova married Igor Paskar, a theatre director, journalist, and magazine editor.
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Kseniya Simonova graduated from the Artistic School of Yevpatoria and studied at the School of Fine Arts, where she wrote research papers on English folk poetry as well as 15th and 16th century English folk songs and ballads.
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Kseniya Simonova translated folk poetry and poets including William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, and George Gordon Byron.
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Kseniya Simonova graduated in 2008, six months after her first son was born.
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Since 2006 Kseniya Simonova has worked for the magazine Crimean Riviera as an artist.
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Kseniya Simonova presented a two-minute sand story and became a semi-finalist.
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Kseniya Simonova wanted to perform a World War II sand story, but the producers encouraged her to choose a more popular theme.
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Kseniya Simonova was declared the winner of the competition and collected 100,000 euros.
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Since 2009, Kseniya Simonova has performed her sand animation stories in Europe, China, Qatar, India, Australia, Thailand, and Bhutan.
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Kseniya Simonova introduced her art at events such as Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 and the Champion League Final Gala in Milan in 2016.
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Kseniya Simonova has performed with presidents and royalty in the audience including for the President of Malta George Abela; Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark; Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, Princess Marie of Denmark; Princess Lalla Hasna of Morocco; members of the British Royal Family, and others.
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In 2019, Kseniya Simonova auditioned for America's Got Talent: The Champions.
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Kseniya Simonova received a golden buzzer from host Terry Crews sending her directly to the finals of the competition.
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Kseniya Simonova appeared in the first episode and performed a sand story called "Never Give Up".
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Kseniya Simonova received a Golden Buzzer from one of the judges, Amanda Holden; Simonova was the first act to receive two Golden Buzzers on "The Champions" series of the Got Talent franchise.
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Since 2009, Kseniya Simonova has been invited to perform at select events worldwide.
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In 2010, Kseniya Simonova performed at the Victory Day Gala at the Royal Albert Hall in London as a special guest with her sand storiesYou Are Always Nearby and I Remember.
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In 2011, Kseniya Simonova was a special guest at a number of big galas with symphony orchestras where she created "The Four Seasons" in sand.
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Kseniya Simonova was a special guest with her performance at the Special Olympic Games' closing ceremony in Athens where she portrayed the history of Greece in sand.
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In July 2011, Vodianova invited Kseniya Simonova to be a special guest with her sand story at the Love Ball charity sponsored by her and the Naked Heart Foundation in Paris.
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Kseniya Simonova performed a specially-crafted sand story about the life and charity impact of Vodianova.
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Kseniya Simonova performed in Tokyo with Life Always Wins, which is devoted to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami as well as other sand stories.
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Kseniya Simonova was a special guest of the international cultural fest Wadden Sea in Denmark under the patronage of Her Highness Princess Marie of Denmark, where the Danish government organized a set of concerts for Simonova.
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Kseniya Simonova was complimented by the Princess during the festival.
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In 2014 Kseniya Simonova performed her sand stories with a symphony orchestra with Margrethe II of Denmark in the audience in Aalborg.
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Since 2013, Kseniya Simonova has created sand animation stories for Morocco Royal projects devoted to environment protection.
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In November 2015 in Thimphu, Bhutan, Kseniya Simonova was a special guest at the ceremonies devoted to the 60th anniversary of Jigme Singye Wangchuk, father of Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk, who invited Kseniya Simonova.
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In 2016, Kseniya Simonova presented a film, "Astana, my love" devoted to the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana and depicting Kazakh nationhood, which was viewed over 30 thousand times within a few days on YouTube.
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Kseniya Simonova performed a sand animation about football in Milan at the gala presentation of the UEFA Champions League Cup, and created a sand animation video, Live, Serbia, which became popular in Serbia.
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Kseniya Simonova was warmly received by the minister of culture of Serbia Vladan Vukosavljevic.
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Kseniya Simonova was invited to bring her sand show to Belgrade.
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Kseniya Simonova has performed her sand stories with symphony orchestras like the YouTube Symphony orchestra, Symphony Orchestra della Toscana, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Aalborg, Belgium National Orchestra, and the orchestra of Wermland opera in Sweden.
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In 2017 Kseniya Simonova performed with the Belgium National Orchestra conducted by Domingo Hindoyan, which played The Nutcracker.
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In 2011, Kseniya Simonova returned to television competition in another form, performing on stage at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, during the performance of a Ukrainian entry by Mika Newton.
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Kseniya Simonova created a sand story for the song "Angel".
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In 2012, Kseniya Simonova collaborated with the youngest winner of the Grammy Awards, Esperanza Spalding.
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In May 2019 Kseniya Simonova participated in Eurovision Song Contest 2019 as a part of Team Moldova, and created a stage act for Moldovan singer Anna Odobescu, where she performed snow stories.
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Kseniya Simonova has worked in this style from 2006 to the present day.
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In 2009, Kseniya Simonova opened her first personal exhibition Sand Personality, which included over 300 pictures in sand art and graphics.
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In 2010 Kseniya Simonova shot a sand animation advertisement film for The Sunday Times.
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Kseniya Simonova met the athletes in their hometowns and interviewed them.