Thread by @timesculture

“This orchestra represents the artistic voice and soul of Ukraine. We are determined to show Putin that he cannot erase Ukrainian culture. Art speaks more powerfully and louder than any human being. We will not be silenced” thetimes.co.uk/article/the-uk…

A 74-strong band of elite Ukrainian musicians have assembled in Poland for a world tour.

Before the group’s #Proms debut, Rebecca Franks (@Becca_JF21) meets them in Warsaw

This is the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra (UFO) and this summer it will bring its message of hope to the West, drawing fresh attention to the devastating war in its players’ home country

Aleksandra Naumov, a Ukrainian musician who lives in Kyiv, tells Franks:

🗣️"On February 23, 2022, we played Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, and it was such a nice concert. We didn’t expect that on February 24, we would wake up to terrible noises at five o’clock in the morning"

Franks has arrived in Warsaw on the second day of the UFO’s life.

While it might be musical business as usual in rehearsal, what’s at stake here is far bigger: a fight for freedom and independence

“I’m pleasantly surprised how fast the difference is from one rehearsal to the next,’’ says @kerilynnwilson, the conductor.

UFO has a busy summer, touring 11 venues around Europe and North America. First up is the @RoyalAlbertHall in London at the BBC Proms on July 31

“At the onset of the war, I was so disturbed and horrified,’’ Wilson says, when I ask how the UFO began.

As a Canadian-Ukrainian, the pain was personal. Not least, she has extended family in Ukraine and she was acutely conscious of the liberties they had lost

🗣️ “I was texting them, and they had no freedom to go outside, to speak, to play music,’’ she says.

Wilson wanted to help.
🗣️ “I was seeing all these images of refugees pouring into Poland, and I thought I should try to form an orchestra’’

Every UFO musician Franks speaks to says they joined without hesitation.

🇺🇦 They believe it is important to bring Ukrainian culture to the world. They want people to see Ukrainians not just as soldiers in the news but as artists too

Whether it’s the cellist Lesya Demkovych, who wears a “freedom ring’’ with a cutout map of Ukraine (including Crimea, she emphasises), or the clarinettist Oleg Morov, who says, “our music is our gun in this moment’’, each has a powerful emotional drive to be part of the UFO

As momentum started to build, booked-up festivals made room in their schedules to host the UFO.

Ukraine granted exemptions to the male performers of military age (18 to 60), allowing them to leave the country legally, while the UK waived its £18,000 visa bill for the players

These Ukrainian musicians need all the support they can get.

In Lviv, orchestral and opera performances have only just resumed but at first they were limited to 45 minutes — because, once fired, Russian rockets take an hour to reach the city

Read the full story 👇
thetimes.co.uk/article/the-uk…