PBS Next Month Will Air Final Concert Of Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra Tour

The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, created recently by the Metropolitan Opera and the Polish National Opera and made up of recent Ukrainian refugees and other musicians in a gesture of solidarity with the victims of the war in Ukraine, toured Europe and the United States earlier this summer.

Its final concert on August 20 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., was filmed for broadcast on PBS. This performance, plus behind-the-scenes footage from the tour, will premiere on Friday, Sept. 9, at 9 p.m. ET on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS video app.

Led by Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, the orchestra will perform a program featuring Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony; Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by Ukrainian virtuoso Anna Fedorova; the Seventh Symphony of Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov; and Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska performing Leonore’s aria “Abscheulicher!” from Beethoven’s Fidelio, which PBS calls “a paean to humanity and peace in the face of violence and cruelty.”

Orchestras born during times of violence to promote peace are not new. An ensemble established by Bronisław Huberman in the 1930s in Palestine to help rescue European Jewish musicians from the Holocaust later became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra was founded in 1999 by conductor Daniel Barenboim and Palestinian scholar Edward W. Said and features musicians from Arab nations and Israel.

Members of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra include Ukrainian members of European orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, musicians from the Kharkiv Opera, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra and Kyiv National Opera, as well as Ukrainian refugees.

Deborah F. Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center, said “This remarkable ensemble is a testament to the power of artists and the arts to affect change and uplift the voices of those fighting for freedom. We are honored, as America’s national cultural center, to join with our friends at PBS and the Metropolitan Opera to bring this concert and the stories of these brave artists to the world.”

Paula Kerger, chief executive of PBS. said, “The arts are unmatched in their ability to bring people together and highlight our shared humanity, and I hope that by spotlighting the vibrancy and talent of these Ukrainian artists, we can enable a deeper understanding of the situation in Ukraine.”