The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra was formed in 2022 by Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson as a direct response to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and as a bold initiative to defend Ukraine’s cultural legacy as the country fights for its freedom in the face of violence and aggression. The Orchestra brings together the finest Ukrainian musicians from ensembles across the country, Ukrainian musicians who had become refugees abroad following the invasion and Ukrainian members of European orchestras.

“On the day Putin invaded I was angry and appalled and immediately determined to do something to oppose this barbarism,” says Wilson. “Not just because I am of Ukrainian Canadian heritage and I have close cousins in Ukraine, one of whom is a Lieutenant Colonel in the army who has been fighting on the eastern front since 2014, but because this assault on a nation and its culture demanded a response in kind. I could not take up arms, but I could take up my baton as my weapon.” Wilson, along with her husband Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Waldemar Dabrowski, director of the Polish National Opera in Warsaw, then set about bringing together the musicians and enabling the infrastructure of a tour “to demonstrate the eternal power of music and the unshakeable cultural resilience of a people.” Both organizations remain stalwart backers of the UFO and continue to play leading roles in the cultural world in standing up to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and in expressing support for the war’s victims. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy has also been a staunch supporter of the project, which is under the patronage of Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, and has assisted in ensuring Ukrainian-based male members of the orchestra can leave the country and deploy their musical excellence as part of the wider war effort in a remarkable demonstration of the power of art over adversity. 

The orchestra’s 2022 and 2023 Summer tours took in some of the most prestigious venues across Europe and the United States such as the BBC Proms and the Barbican in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Lincoln Center in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as well as concerts in Poland, France and Ireland. Their concerts have showcased contemporary Ukrainian composers such as Silvestrov, Skoryk and Stankovych alongside the greats of the wider European musical tradition including Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms and Verdi and enjoyed a rapturous and emotional public response, critical acclaim and unprecedented media attention for an artistic venture of this kind. The concerts have received live television and radio broadcasts as well as attracting significant television news attention and extensive coverage in newspapers all over the world including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Times, Le Monde, Die Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and many others.

A live recording of the orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was released in February 2024 by Deutsche Grammophon to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The orchestra also features in a documentary film, “Beethoven’s 9: Ode to Humanity”’ premiered on Arte in May 2024 examining Beethoven’s symphony within both historic and contemporary contexts of war and of hope and including extensive footage of the orchestra in rehearsal and performance as well as interviews with Keri-Lynn Wilson and other musicians. 

During the course of that first tour around Europe and the US it became clear to Wilson that the sheer weight of support the orchestra  enjoyed, and the talent and passion displayed by the musicians, meant that ending the orchestra then would have been a dereliction of duty. “We therefore gathered again to tour in 2023,” says Wilson, “and will continue to do so in support of Ukrainian culture.” The 2024 Beethoven Ninth Freedom Tour saw the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra taking its message of support or Ukraine’s cultural freedom and identity from Paris’s Saint Eustache Church to London’s historic Saint Paul’s Cathedral, from Warsaw to the shipyards of Gdańsk, birthplace of Lech Wałęsa’s Solidarity Movement and where Mr Walesa attended the concert as its honorary patron. The tour culminated with concerts at Saint John the Divine Cathedral in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as we rallied the forces of art and justice for Ukraine. Slava Ukraini!

Keri-Lynn Wilson says: “It remains my dearest hope that one day, and of course I hope that day is not too far away, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will be able to perform in Ukraine too, in front of its home audience in a concert celebrating the country and its brave people’s triumph over the awful adversity it has been forced to endure.”