»My baton is my weapon.« Under this motto, Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson has been fighting for Ukraine’s freedom since 2022. She founded the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra a few weeks after Russia’s brutal attack. The orchestra brings together the best Ukrainian musicians from ensembles across the country, musicians who fled abroad after the invasion and Ukrainian members of European orchestras.
Together with the soprano Julia Kleiter, they will perform Gustav Mahler’s »Rückert-Lieder« in this programme – with these five songs, the composer left behind a moving body of work, the piece »Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen« having become the very embodiment of Mahler’s aesthetic of escapism. The programme opens with a new orchestral work by the Ukrainian composer Bohdana Frolyak, whose compositions continue to celebrate the vitality of Ukrainian culture even in the midst of war.
They champion music from their devastated homeland, such as that of composer Bohdana Froljak, whose moving and intense »Gloria in excelsis Deo« they perform together with soprano Julia Kleiter. Another composer who is a must at the orchestra’s concerts is Ludwig van Beethoven. His music is a symbol of international understanding, peace and a united Europe. Following acclaimed performances (and recordings) of the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, his no less gripping Symphony No. 7 is now on the programme. It is particularly famous for its second movement, in which rhythm dictates the action and Beethoven shows that he could compose great symphonies from the smallest of motifs.
PERFORMERS
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra orchestra
Julia Kleiter soprano
Keri-Lynn Wilson conductor
PROGRAM
Bohdana Frolyak
Gloria
Gustav Mahler
Rückert-Lieder
- Interval -
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
