Conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson rehearsing with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra in Warsaw.KINGA KARPATI & DANIEL ZAREWICZ/Supplied
Canadian orchestra conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson was on tour in Europe – performing a program of Russian repertoire – when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Footage of refugees streaming across the border into Poland moved Wilson, who is of partial Ukrainian descent, to begin every subsequent concert with the Ukrainian national anthem. On the third week of the war she was scheduled to conduct in Odesa, in southern Ukraine, but instead flew to her husband in London and found that she just couldn’t stop crying.
The sadness – and anger – compelled her to help in the way she knows best: Through music and performance at the highest level. She created the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, bringing together 74 players who are either expatriates or still living in Ukraine. Wilson and the musicians have already toured to six countries in less than one month, with four more shows to go. And they have gained the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who notes in the orchestra’s program that “artistic resistance” is one of the most important efforts against Russia.
The mission of the orchestra is to tell the world and Russian President Vladimir Putin that “Ukrainian culture is vital and alive,” Wilson says in an interview with The Globe and Mail. Money raised from the tour will go toward supporting Ukrainian artists.
“We’re fighting on the cultural front. We came together only weeks ago and we play like one, we breathe like one. We play with great heart and passion.”
Wilson has strong cultural roots in Ukraine: “It’s in my soul,” she says. Her great-grandparents met in Winnipeg but were from the same village in Chernivtsi; they continued to speak Ukrainian after immigrating to Canada. While growing up in Winnipeg, Wilson sang in a Ukrainian choir, took Ukrainian folk-dancing lessons, and celebrated Christmas and Easter in the Ukrainian Orthodox tradition.
Wilson's grandmother, Eva Olnyck, in the O. Koshetz Choir in Winnipeg.Supplied
After completing a masters in flute at Juilliard, Wilson turned to conducting, earning a second degree at New York’s famed music school. The result is a successful international career in storied halls around the globe. Some of her earliest conducting gigs were in Ukraine, with the National Symphony of Ukraine in 2004 and the Ukraine National Opera in 2005 and 2008.
“I fell in love with my Ukrainian colleagues,” she says.
When she shared her idea for the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra with her husband, Peter Gelb, general manager of the New York Metropolitan Opera, he knew it needed to tour. The orchestra grew into a co-production between the Polish National Opera in Warsaw and the Met, and performances were arranged in several European countries, the United Kingdom and the United States. The BBC Proms, whose schedule of events is planned years in advance, promptly gave the group a night in their line up.
The orchestra has received a standing ovation wherever they’ve performed.
“The emotional intensity of this group transmits to the audience and at the end of every performance, tears are flowing,” Wilson says. “The audience is experiencing that it is a very special orchestra, a symbol of hope for Ukraine.”
Wilson's great grandfather's sisters; Anna, pictured far left, is Nadia's grandmother.Supplied
The musicians’ stories share a poignancy that is often laced with trauma.
Violinist Alisa Kuznetsova left her position with the Mariinsky Orchestra in Saint Petersburg as the escalation began – and feels a certain amount of guilt for having been there at all.
Iryna Solovei, a violinist from Kharkiv who played with the Kharkiv State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, fled to Poland after seven days of war, taking refuge in a dressing room in Warsaw’s Opera House with her daughter.
A bass player who was supposed be on the tour was conscripted into the Ukrainian Army.
One silver lining from the horrific events is the reunion that took place in Poland when Wilson’s cousin Nadia travelled to the orchestra’s inaugural performance. The two met for the first time, and Nadia presented Wilson with a family heirloom: A traditional hand-embroidered blouse made by her grandmother, Wilson’s great-grandfather’s sister. (The Globe agreed not to use Nadia’s last name for her safety.)
Nadia is a professor of Ukrainian language who volunteers to distribute supplies and aid to the front lines, while her brother, a journalist, artist and professor, has been fighting in Donbas since the first invasion in 2014.
The two cousins “now speak daily,” Wilson says. “It’s like having a sister.”
Keri-Lynn Wilson with her cousin Nadia in Warsaw wearing the vyshyvanka that was gifted to her.Supplied
Travel for the orchestra has been remarkably smooth, apart from some airline confusion regarding tickets and boarding passes for large musical instruments such as cellos and brass that fly in the cabin, with their own seats. The orchestra’s next stop is Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park in New York for two nights, followed by a grand finale in Washington at the Kennedy Center.
And what happens after that? Does everyone pack up and head in 74 directions? Wilson’s emotional response to this question was palpable. There was a long pause, and she was audibly choked up. “Unfortunately, yes – I think it’s going to be extremely emotional.”
She continued: “These people are going back, to Kyiv, to Odesa. There is a married couple within the orchestra separated for five months and reunited on this tour; he will go back and she will stay. On the 20th of August, the reality is that these people’s lives are going to go back to being hell. They’ve had a wonderful distraction.”
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