On July 28, the Warsaw National Opera hosted the first concert of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, created on the initiative of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Bolshoi Theater in Warsaw, in solidarity with the victims of the war in Ukraine. The concert in the Polish capital was the orchestra’s first performance as part of a three-week tour of Europe and the United States of America. The orchestra’s musicians will visit Great Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Final concerts will be held in New York and Washington.

The tour is organized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ukrainian State Agency for Arts and Arts Education. The money raised during the tour will go to Ukrainian artists.

Orchestra – “Artistic Voice and Soul of Ukraine”

The ideological inspiration behind the creation of the orchestra was the Canadian conductor of Ukrainian origin Keri-Lynn Wilson. She comes from the city of Winnipeg, where a large Ukrainian diaspora lives. His great-grandfather and great-grandmother immigrated to Canada from Ukraine in the early 20th century.

Wilson has over 20 years of experience as a conductor. She has worked with some of the most famous orchestras in the world, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Bavarian Radio Symphony. Wilson has also directed orchestras at major opera houses including Covent Garden in London, the Bavarian State Opera and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. During this difficult period of war for Ukraine, she brought together 75 Ukrainian musicians to demonstrate artistic unity. According to Wilson, “this orchestra embodies the artistic voice and soul of Ukraine”.

Male musicians exempt from military service

The orchestra includes musicians who left Ukraine after the start of the war, Ukrainian artists working in European orchestras and instrumentalists in Ukrainian orchestras including the Kyiv National Opera, the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine supported this project, and the Ministry of Defense exempted male musicians from military service during the tour. “We are fighting on the cultural front for Ukraine’s freedom,” says Keri-Lynn Wilson.

There were only 10 days to prepare for the performance, intensive rehearsals took place at the Bolshoi Theater – the Warsaw National Opera. After meeting with the musicians, Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Piotr Glinski, said that Poland’s support for the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra is a symbol of the fact that it is impossible to remain indifferent to the war in Ukraine. , and that this country courageously defends not only its sovereignty, but Poland, and the whole of Europe, and the whole civilized world, democratic values ​​and freedom.

There is no Russian music in the program

The musicians will perform in 12 cities and in the 13 best concert halls, namely in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Amsterdam, London, Dublin, New York and Washington. Conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson, the orchestra will perform Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, works by Johannes Brahms, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor with the participation of pianist Anna Fedorova.

Preparations for the first performance at the Warsaw National Opera

Symphony No. 7 by famous Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, who fled Kyiv in March 2022 with his daughter and granddaughter, will also be performed. “It is now clear how little we appreciate times when peace reigns and how fragile civilization is,” the composer said in an interview. Ukrainian opera singer Lyudmila Monastyrskaya is also due to participate in the concerts, who will sing Beethoven’s Fidelio’s aria for Leonora: “Oh no, tyrant, the day ahead is not yours” – a hymn to humanity and the world in the face of violence and cruelty. The orchestra will not present works by Russian composers.

Oksana Lyniv: “The world should hear the personal stories of Ukrainians”

The famous Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, who this summer is again on the podium at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth and is touring Europe with the Ukraine Youth Symphony Orchestra she founded, welcomed the initiative to create an orchestra. In an interview with DW, she noted: “Now there are many spontaneously organized projects. One of the most important of them is the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson. The orchestra members are young musicians. But in Ukraine now you cannot perform regularly or work professionally, so it’s great that Wilson came up with the idea to play this wonderful symphonic program.”

According to Oksana Lyniv, it is also very important that Ukrainian musicians during the tour can meet with journalists and give interviews. “They are given a platform to share their personal stories and experiences. It is important that in Europe and around the world the situation in Ukraine is judged not only by media reports and the actions of politicians, but also by the personal stories of people and families affected by the crisis. war” – the Ukrainian conductor star is sure.