When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, orchestra conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson felt she had to respond.
“I wanted to turn my horror into action,” the conductor, who describes herself as a proud Canadian-Ukrainian, told RFE/RL. “So I thought of creating an orchestra of the best musicians of Ukraine to represent their strength, their artistry, and to show Putin that you cannot silence Ukrainians. You cannot kill their culture.”
The ensemble Wilson founded, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, brings together Ukrainian classical musicians from across the country, where the war has devastated a previously vibrant musical scene.
They are wrapping up their summer season with a performance in London on August 29. That follows stops at music festivals and concert halls across Europe on what the group calls the 2025 Resilience Tour.
“Our mission is to fight on the cultural front,” Wilson said.
In Bucharest, the orchestra performed at the George Enescu International Festival, where Wilson told RFE/RL’s Romanian Service about the challenges faced by the unusual ensemble.
Out of the 70 musicians, she said, “Fifty percent of the orchestra are still living in Ukraine, from Kyiv to Lviv [and] Odesa. So we have to get special permission to have the men come out, because everybody is being drafted now.”
The project has received support from Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, who helped arrange for deferred military service and permission to travel abroad for the orchestra’s male musicians.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also recognized Wilson’s work, granting her the Order of Princess Olha, a civilian award given to women for their contributions to Ukrainian culture.
‘From Tragedy To Hope’
Along with time-honored classical compositions by Beethoven, Wagner, and Dvorak, the orchestra is performing new works by Ukrainian composers who draw on the events of the war as their subject matter.
The Mothers of Kherson, an opera by Maksim Kolomiyets, tells the story of two women who set out to rescue their children who have been abducted by Russian forces.
Another work, titled Bucha Lacrimosa, was composed by Victoria Poleva in response to the mass killings of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha at the start of the invasion.
Wilson explained that Poleva traveled through Bucha as she was fleeing her home in Kyiv and witnessed the horrors of the massacre. “So she put all of that emotion into this beautiful work, which is both powerful and gives us a sense of light — from tragedy to hope,” Wilson said.
Wilson has made her own contributions to the orchestra’s repertoire. In her interpretation of Beethoven’s choral Ode To Joy, the word “joy” is changed to “slava,” Ukrainian for “glory” and a popular rallying cry for victory.
The conductor sees a future for the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra that extends to a time when the musicians can resume their careers in their home country.
“”After the war, we plan a victory tour, number one, and to go on tour in Ukraine,” she said. But she plans to keep bringing Ukrainian music to a wider audience. “We will continue forever as a symbol, as a symbol of greatness and [the triumph] of good over evil,” she said.
