Program to feature Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony as a symbol of resilience against the forces of tyranny. In a gesture of solidarity, August dates will bring the orchestra to Baltic nations Lithuania and Latvia and the George Enescu Festival in Romania for the first time, as well as return visits to Lucerne, Amsterdam, Warsaw, and London. The orchestra is proud to be again under the patronage of Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska.
At a decisive time in the Ukrainian nation’s continuing defense of its sovereignty and cultural identity, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will reconvene in August 2025 under the baton of its founder and music director, Keri-Lynn Wilson, for a European tour showcasing Ukrainian artistic excellence.
Building on the extraordinary impact of their three previous summer tours, the 2025 Resilience Tour will present an emotionally resonant program centered around Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, one of the towering masterpieces of music that was written amidst the turmoil of war and personal crisis and has ever since been a cultural touchstone for the journey from darkness into light and triumph over adversity. During the tour, the orchestra will make a live recording of the great symphony for Deutsche Grammophon (DG), following on from the success of their unique Ukrainian-language version of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony released by DG last year.
The tour will also feature the premiere of a powerful new work by acclaimed Ukrainian composer Maxim Kolomiiets, Suite from The Mothers of Kherson, a moving tribute to the Ukrainian women who made a 3,000-mile journey behind enemy lines to rescue their children forcibly detained by Russian authorities. The suite has been adapted from a new full-scale opera by and librettist George Brant, jointly commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Teatr Wielki–Polish National Opera in Warsaw.
American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen will join the orchestra for performances of Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde and Strauss’s poignant “Four Last Songs.” For two special concerts at the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, violinist Alexandra Conunova will perform Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and the orchestra will again present Ukrainian composer Victoria Vita Polevá’s searing “Bucha Lacrimosa,” composed in memory of victims of Russian atrocities.
The tour will begin at the Teatr Wielki–Polish National Opera in Warsaw before performances at the Wroclaw Opera in Poland and a return visit to the Lucerne Festival. The orchestra will then embark on a series of first visits to countries who have shown staunch support for Ukraine and its people in its moment of need: the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society in Vilnius and then the Dzintari Concert Hall in Jūrmala on the shore of the Baltic Sea, before two concerts at the prestigious George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. To conclude the tour, the orchestra will return for the third time to the storied Concertgebouw in Amsterdam before the final concert at London’s Cadogan Hall.
“For the fourth time since the onset of Russia’s brutal invasion, we’ll be touring in support of Ukraine’s right to be free,” says Keri-Lynn Wilson. “Our program features Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, whose iconic opening four notes, amongst many other things, came to symbolize allied resistance to Naziism during the Second World War. Let them be a symbol to the world of our resistance today.
“The 2025 Resilience Tour brings together friendly and supportive nations, the world’s leading classical record label, international artists, and of course Ukrainian music and the courage, skill, and fortitude of Ukrainian musicians. We are Ukraine’s soldiers of music, playing for our nation’s cultural legacy and its brave right to exist. At this critical time when Ukraine needs our support more than ever, I invite all European lovers of freedom and democracy to join us. Slava Ukraini!”
“I invite everyone to join and listen to these musical treasures. True culture, like all eternal values, is not about politics; it is about something greater—about humanity, about preserving the individual, their spirit, rights, and freedom. It is about not turning a blind eye to hardship, not tolerating evil, opposing violence, defending life and the right to it in order to be worthy of being called human—this is the essence conveyed by the classical and contemporary works performed by the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. And these are the principles upon which our civilization stands. Let us support and preserve it together,” says Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra’s performances of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony across Europe this summer, and its live recording for release by Deutsche Grammophon, represent the latest chapter in the orchestra’s increasingly profound relationship with Beethoven’s works and ideals. This connection carries special resonance in today’s world.
In the orchestra’s inaugural 2022 tour, Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska performed Leonore’s powerful aria “Abscheulicher!” from Beethoven’s Fidelio—a passionate plea for humanity and peace in the face of violence and cruelty. The orchestra’s interpretations of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, “Eroica,” reflected the composer’s own disillusionment with tyrannical power.
The orchestra’s renowned Ukrainian-language version of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony transformed Schiller’s “Freude” (“Joy”) to “Slava” (“Glory”), echoing the rallying cry that has become familiar around the world: “Slava Ukraini!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”).
Now, Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony speaks powerfully to our present moment with its epic transformation from darkness to triumphant light, from minor to major, heralding the certainty of victory to come. As Beethoven himself said of the “struggle to victory” within the work: “Joy follows sorrow, sunshine—rain.”
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra was formed in 2022 by Canadian Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson in direct response to Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The orchestra unites leading musicians based in Ukraine alongside those forced to leave the country as refugees and Ukrainian artists from premier international ensembles elsewhere across Europe in a powerful symbol of cultural solidarity. It was created in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Teatr Wielki–Polish National Opera in Warsaw, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The orchestra’s three summer tours have taken in some of the most prestigious venues across Europe and the United States, such as the BBC Proms and the Barbican in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Lincoln Center in New York City, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. They have also performed at some of the great cathedrals and concert halls on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as a special concert in the Polish shipyard that was instrumental in the birth of the Solidarity movement. This February, they gave a special one-off concert in Warsaw to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, which was televised across Europe by Arte and in the United States by PBS.
The UFO is proud to have showcased contemporary Ukrainian composers such as Silvestrov, Skoryk, Stankovych, and Poleva alongside the greats of the wider European musical tradition. Their concerts have prompted a rapturous and emotional public response, critical acclaim, and unprecedented media attention for an artistic venture of this kind. Performances have received live television and radio broadcasts and attracted significant television news attention and extensive coverage in newspapers all over the world, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Times, Le Monde, Die Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and many others.
The Metropolitan Opera and the Teatr Wielki–Polish National Opera—under the leadership of General Manager Peter Gelb in New York and Waldemar Dabrowski, director of the PNO, in Warsaw—are proud to have founded and facilitated the orchestra and are delighted to again support the orchestra in its 2025 tour. Both the Met and the PNO continue to play leading roles in the cultural world in standing up to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and in expressing support for the war’s victims.
The 2025 Resilience Tour is sponsored by The Kovner Foundation, Berry Charitable Foundation, and Ann Ziff. The tour is managed by the Teatr Wielki–Polish National Opera in association with Askonas Holt.
CONCERT ITINERARY AND PROGRAMMES
14 August 2025: Warsaw, Poland
Kolomiiets: Suite from The Mothers of Kherson
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
16 August 2025: Wroclaw, Poland
Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture
Strauss: Four Last Songs (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
18 August 2025: Lucerne, Switzerland
Kolomiiets: Suite from The Mothers of Kherson
Strauss: Four Last Songs (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
20 August 2025: Vilnius, Lithuania
Kolomiiets: Suite from The Mothers of Kherson
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
22 August 2025: Jūrmala, Latvia
Kolomiiets: Suite from The Mothers of Kherson
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
25 August 2025: Bucharest, Romania
Kolomiiets: Suite from The Mothers of Kherson
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 (with Alexandra Conunova)
Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
26 August 2025: Bucharest, Romania
Polevá: Bucha Lacrimosa
Strauss: Four Last Songs (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88
27 August 2025: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Kolomiiets: Suite from The Mothers of Kherson
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
29 August 2025: London, United Kingdom
Kolomiiets: Suite from The Mothers of Kherson
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
