There are many ways to express solidarity. The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra represents moral support for a nation at war and material assistance for the musicians. The ensemble was assembled in 2022 at the initiative of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. It includes refugees forced to flee their country for safety, Ukrainian members of European orchestras, and musicians of Ukraine-based ensembles. The proceeds from the tour will be used to help struggling artists, yet the symbolic dimension of the endeavour is just as important – the sense of togetherness that music can create.
As last year, the orchestra is led by its Canadian-Ukrainian founding conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, for whom the job has both artistic and personal significance.
Larry Weinstein’s Beethoven’s Ninth: Ode to Humanity documentary examines Beethoven’s symphony within both historic and contemporary contexts of war and of hope. Available to watch for free on arte.tv until 3 August, the picture features footage of the orchestra in rehearsal and performance as well as interviews with Keri-Lynn Wilson and other musicians. The film premiered on 28 April 2024 at the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto.
In the 200th-anniversary year of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the orchestra will present its emotionally charged version of the work with Ode to Joy sung by the soloists and chorus in Ukrainian. Schiller’s poem is a great cry of freedom, resistance, and progress against the forces of oppression. The soloists for the tour will be Ukrainian singers Olga Bezsmertna (soprano), Nataliia Kukhar (mezzo-soprano), Valentyn Dytiuk (tenor), and Andrii Kymach (bass-baritone). The orchestra will be joined by local choirs with links to the wider Ukrainian community, including at St Paul’s Cathedral in London with the Royal Opera House’s Songs for Ukraine Chorus, which is made up of Ukrainian refugees and members of the Ukrainian London diaspora affected by the war, as well as members of the Royal Opera Chorus. Each concert will open with a new work by acclaimed Ukrainian composer Victoria Vita Polevá entitled Bucha. Lacrimosa written to commemorate the Bucha massacre in 2022.
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra’s Freedom Tour takes place in July and August 2024. The orchestra will perform in Poland, France, the UK, New York, and Washington.
12 July: Saint-Eustache Church, Paris
14 July: Polish National Opera, Warsaw >>> THE PROGRAMME
23 July: CRIST Shipyard, Gdynia
29 July: St. Paul’s Cathedral, London
1 August: The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City
4 August: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
Giacomo Puccini, Turandot, Baltic Opera Festival
20 and 25 July: Forest Opera Sopot
