The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra is an orchestra composed of Ukrainian refugees who have fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukrainian members of other European orchestras. Canadian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, who has Ukrainian

ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

, provided the impetus for the creation of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra,ARTE Concert: Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra – Das Gründungskonzert live aus Warschau
July 29, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2022. (in German)

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

/ Shaun Walker
‘Channelling our anger’: Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra heads for the Proms
July 29, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022 which the Metropolitan Opera of New York and the

Polish National Opera The Grand Theatre in Warsaw ( pl, Teatr Wielki w Warszawie), known in full as the Grand Theatre–National Opera, is a theatre and opera complex situated on the historic Theatre Square in central Warsaw, Poland. The Warsaw Grand Theatre is home ...

immediately supported as a gesture of

solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

with the victims of the war in Ukraine.BR-Klassik: Das Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
July 26, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2022. (in German)The Metropolitan Opera: Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
Retrieved July 31, 2022.

History

The 74 musicians, all

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

– recent

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s, Ukrainian members from some European orchestras (e.g.

Tonkünstler Orchestra The Tonkunstler Orchestra (German: ''Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich'', ) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna and Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria. Origin of the name The orchestra's name has its origins in the ''Tonkünstler-Soziet� ...

Belgian National Orchestra The Belgian National Orchestra ( nl, Nationaal Orkest van België, french: Orchestre National de Belgique) is a Belgian orchestra, based in Brussels. Its principal concert venue is the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts (Bozar). The orchestra also gi ...

and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra)Musik Heute: Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra – Das Eröffnungskonzert aus Warschau
July 31, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022. (in German) and some of the top musicians of

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...

and elsewhere in Ukraine – assembled in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

10 days before the inaugural concert for intensive rehearsals. The inaugural concert was held in Warsaw on July 28 (2022) at the Polish National Opera. The programme of this concert included the ''7th Symphony'' by the Ukrainian composer

Valentyn Silvestrov Valentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov ( uk, Валенти́н Васи́льович Сильве́стров; born 30 September 1937) is a Ukrainian composer and pianist, who plays and writes contemporary classical music. Biography Valentyn Vasylyo ...

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

’s '' Piano Concerto No. 2'' (soloist:

Anna Fedorova Anna Borysivna Fedorova ( uk, А́нна Бори́сівна Фе́дорова; born February 27, 1990) is a Ukrainian concert pianist. Fedorova performs as soloist, chamber musician and with symphony orchestras in the major concert halls of th ...

), Leonore's aria ''Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?'' from

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

’s opera ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...

'' (soloist: Liudmyla Monastyrska) and the '' 4th Symphony in E-minor'' by

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

. On July 31 the Orchestra performed the same programme at the 2022 BBC Proms, a performance that was hailed by ''

'' as "highly impressive and deeply moving". The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra continued its world concert tour with concerts in the United Kingdom – Edinburgh ( Edinburgh International Festival) and Snape ( Snape Maltings, Suffolk), Germany – Munich ( Isar Philharmonic Hall), Berlin ( Konzerthaus) and Hamburg ( Elbphilharmonie), France – Orange (

Chorégies d'Orange The ''Chorégies d'Orange'' is a summer opera festival held each August in Orange located about 21 kilometres north of Avignon in southern France. Performances are presented in the ancient Roman theatre, the Théâtre Antique d'Orange, the orig ...

Festival, Vaucluse),

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

– Amsterdam (

Royal Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb Architectural acoustics, acoustics place it among the ...

Festival) and Ireland – Dublin ( National Concert Hall). In European cultural capitals, the orchestra was greeted with standing ovations and positive reviews from critics. The tour concluded with concerts in New York (

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

) on August 18 and 19, 2022 and in Washington, DC ( Kennedy Center) on August 20. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' acclaimed the Lincoln Center performance as "admirably even-keeled and soft-spoken, an embodiment of a cultured nation".

References

Ukrainian orchestras Musical groups established in 2022 Ukrainian responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine {{Ukraine-band-stub