“We need to present the world our tradition”: Kyiv Symphony Orchestra begins European tour in Warsaw

The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra final night time launched a European tour with a live performance in Warsaw, in what their conductor described as a “miracle”.

The viewers on the Warsaw Philharmonic and people listening to a reside broadcast on public radio had been handled to a number of Ukrainian and Polish compositions that symbolised the solidarity between the 2 nations, with Poland having been on the forefront of offering humanitarian, diplomatic and army help since’s Russia’s invasion.

Flanked by bouquets within the colors of the 2 international locations’ flags, the orchestra confirmed the richness of Ukrainian tradition as Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to disclaim its existence and wipe it from the map. “Warsaw, thanks in your help,” wrote the orchestra on Fb after the live performance.

Luigi Gaggero, the animated conductor who waved his baton as if he was directing a platoon of troops, praised the generosity of his hosts and referred to as the occasion “a logistical triumph”.

“Three weeks in the past this may have been unthinkable,” he advised Notes from Poland. “The musicians had been hiding from Russian bombs in shelters. Whenever you name them, they are saying, ‘Sorry, can I name you later due to the bombs?’, and later you hope they’re nonetheless alive.”

Gaggero praised the “miracle response from Poland, Germany and others, [which] gave us the likelihood to play in live performance halls the place often reserving them three years prematurely wouldn’t be sufficient”.

The Ukrainian musicians, a few of whom arrived in Poland with members of their households, had been supplied wide-ranging help, together with lodging, rehearsal venues and psychological counselling. Poland has been the vacation spot for almost all of individuals fleeing Ukraine, with virtually three million folks crossing its border to date.

Purple-haired Anastasia Sabadash, enjoying the Xylobells, which had been flanked by double basses with Ukrainian flags on them, spent the primary a part of the struggle in her native Kyiv. She volunteered on the prepare station to assist aged folks and youngsters escaping from the Russian onslaught in jap Ukraine to security.

Sabadash seen her deployment with the orchestra as additional serving to the struggle effort, telling Notes from Poland: “We need to present the entire world, the entire of Europe, which tradition we have now, the music is for our kids, for our grandchildren. We misplaced a number of theatres and live performance halls which the Russians bombed, so our tradition wants help.”

Alongside Polish composer Henryk Wieniawski’s fantaisie brillante, which was performed with Polish soloist Janusz Wawrowski, there was a really significant piece written by considered one of Gaggero’s predecessors as conductor of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, Borys Lyatoshynsky’s.

His symphony No. 3 in B minor, subtitled “about Conflict and Peace”, was performed in full after the intermission. The fashionable epic featured thundering brass alternated with a suspicious woodwind part, punctuated with pizzicato strings and pressure paying homage to a dramatic movie rating.

The stress offered by the dissonance of the melodies reminded the viewers of the elephant within the room, the struggle in Ukraine, with bombs dropping near the house of the orchestra echoed by the booms and clashes of the cymbals and timpani and a rolling army snare repeating the gunshots at present heard within the Donbas.

This piece was vital in additional than simply the reality of the theme, which Gaggero described as “these very pure and exquisite melodies preventing with the brutal components”.

The Soviets who managed Ukraine when it was written within the early Nineteen Fifties didn’t like the unique model, which had a contented finish symbolising the triumph of fine over evil, preferring a extra standard fashion army parade. They pressured Lyatoshynsky to rewrite it, and he was by no means capable of hear the unique model in his life once more.

“We’re so joyful that we will play the primary model, the true one, once more,” Gaggero enthused. Earlier than and after the symphony, the gang stood for the Ukrainian nationwide anthem, in addition to numerous standing ovations.

This live performance comes as a part of the orchestra’s 10-day keep in Warsaw, organised by Poland’s Nationwide Philharmonic and the Nationwide Institute of Music and Dance, utilizing funds from the tradition ministry.

Tradition minister Piotr Gliński mentioned that the Ukrainian musicians are dealing with “the extremely essential process of conveying to the European public the reality about Russian struggle crimes” in Ukraine.

From Warsaw, the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra will go to the central Polish metropolis of Łódź for a live performance on 23 April, earlier than embarking on a tour of Germany, with an itinerary together with Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg and Dresden.

Predominant picture credit score: James Jackson