“Can music counter violence and aggression? I am certain that it can. Music breaks down fear and indifference and instead brings people together through shared feelings.” – Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine and Patron of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
I’m fairly certain that when Canadian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson co-founded the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra in April 2022, she never imagined that the orchestra’s raison d’etre – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – would still be in effect nearly five years later. But, that is the harsh reality, with the war having claimed more than 100,000 Ukrainian lives to date, with another half-million wounded. (That doesn’t include all of the Russian casualties, currently estimated to be well over 1 million.)
Comprised of Ukrainian musicians from both inside Ukraine and abroad – several in forced exile – the orchestra has reassembled each summer under Wilson (who herself has Ukrainian heritage) to tour throughout Europe and America. They arrived in NYC this week for their first appearance at Lincoln Center in four years, at a time when the war is fighting to stay in the headlines thanks to competing conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.
In addition to generating support for their cause, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra – or UFO – has received ample praise for their playing which, while perhaps not in the top tier of ensembles, is far better than one might expect given the circumstances. It certainly doesn’t hurt that many of its members are drawn from Europe’s finest orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Vienna, along with most of the leading Ukrainian orchestras and opera houses.
It also doesn’t hurt when you have the backing of the Met Opera, whose General Manager, Peter Gelb, is married to Wilson. Gelb, one of the UFO’s managing directors along with Polish National Opera director Waldemar Dabrowski and Ukrainian cultural minister Galyna Grygorenko, has contributed significant financial and logistical resources to the orchestra, lining up benefactors and helping to arrange its tours.
Gelb has also leveraged his position to pull in some of the Met’s starriest vocal talent, raising the bar significantly since their 2022 visit to Damrosch Park. Over two nights at David Geffen Hall, the final dates of the UFO’s so-called “Invincible Tour”, it almost felt as if the Met had temporarily shifted place across Josie Robertson Plaza. (Gelb was present on both nights, watching from the same first-tier box where NY Phil President Matias Tarnopolsky usually sits.)
The orchestra all came onstage en masse, wearing blue and yellow ribbons that matched the large Ukrainian flag which hung above the stage, temporarily reminding me of another defiant orchestra demonstrating over far less crucial circumstances. (Flag ribbons > red roses.)
The UFO has always championed the work of Ukrainian composers, so it was no surprise that Tuesday’s concert opened with Maxim Kolomiiiets‘ Suite from his forthcoming opera The Mothers of Kherson, slated to premiere next month at the Polish National Opera. (It comes to the Met in 2028.) Recounting the true story of a group of Ukrainian mothers who traveled 3,000 miles to rescue their children from a summer camp in the Crimea, the music – which was recorded by the UFO last year on Deutsche Grammophon – was at turns dark and triumphant, a close cousin to Shostakovich’s war-themed symphonies.
The star attraction of the evening was soprano Lise Davidsen, currently in town for rehearsals of Verdi’s Macbeth, which opens the Met season on September 22. Here, Davidsen sang Strauss’ Four Last Songs, a staple of her repertoire. Appearing for the first time in Geffen Hall, Davidsen’s soaring, supernatural voice easily carried over the orchestra; during the third song, “Going to Sleep,” she seemed completely entranced, gazing skyward while concertmaster Mariko Komonoko played his plaintive solo.
The final song, “At Sunset”, seemed to speak most directly to the circumstances back in Ukraine, not to mention the musicians assembled onstage:
“Oh peace, so broad and silent!
So deep in the evening’s glow
We are so tired of wandering –
Could this perhaps be death?”
Following intermission, Wilson led the orchestra in a rousing performance of Beethoven’s 7th symphony – which I heard less than two weeks earlier at Tanglewood – that felt both militant and celebratory, somewhat reflecting Ukraine’s improved fortunes on the battlefield.
On Wednesday, the Geffen Hall stage was filled not only with the UFO, but the entire Met Opera chorus for a performance of Verdi’s epic Messa da Requiem, which the Met famously performed on 9/11/2021 following a COVID-enforced 18 month closure. The music, whose relevance should be all-too-apparent – was mournful, terrifying, and completely overwhelming, especially from my vantage point in Row J. You haven’t lived until you’ve felt your entire body shake from the thunder of a bass drum at 50 feet.
Wilson, who showed impressive command of Verdi’s unwieldy music by conducting without a score, was joined by a quartet of starry Met singers, including mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis, tenor René Barbera and bass Soloman Howard. But it was soprano Ailyn Pérez, who also appeared on that 2021 performance, that truly shone: barely glancing at her score, Perez seemed completely enraptured, her voice piercing and pure with a warm, burnished texture. It almost goes without saying that the professional Met Chorus, directed by Tilman Michael, brought unparalleled power and precision to Verdi’s cataclysmic music. For their part, the orchestra rose to the occasion, apart from a few scattered wobbles in the brass section.
Verdi’s Requiem was preceded by Bohdana Frolyak’s dramatic new instrumental “Gloria”, which contained moments of both menace and transcendence. The evening ended with a soulful, somber performance of the Ukrainian National Anthem, with musicians and audience all standing in solidarity. As they finished, one of the many Ukrainians scattered around the hall shouted, “Slava Ukraini!” Glory to Ukraine, indeed.
More pics on Instagram.