Under a newly unveiled plan, leading Ukrainian musicians will form an ensemble that will go on a three-week tour of Europe and the United States this summer.
The ensemble, called the Ukraine Freedom Orchestra, will include recent refugees, Ukrainian members of several European orchestras, and some of the top musicians from the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Odessa.
The musicians will gather in Warsaw on July 18 for an intensive rehearsal period. The residency and opening concert in Warsaw on July 28 will be financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
From the Polish capital, the orchestra will travel to London, Munich, Berlin, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Hamburg, New York and Washington.
In a joint statement, Waldemar Dąbrowski, the director of the Polish National Opera, and Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager, said: “Music can be a powerful weapon against oppression. This tour is meant to defend Ukrainian art and its brave artists as they fight for the freedom of their country.”
The Ukraine Freedom Orchestra will perform under the leadership of Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri Lynn-Wilson.
The programme of the tour includes Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Seventh Symphony; Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Ukrainian virtuoso Anna Fedorova; and either Brahms’s Fourth Symphony or Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony.
(mk/gs)