About:

Keri-Lynn Wilson is the founding conductor and music director of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. The ensemble was created in 2022 in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion as a bold initiative to defend Ukraine’s cultural legacy as the country fights for its freedom. It brings together leading Ukrainian musicians from inside and outside the country and is a collaboration between the Metropolitan Opera, the Polish National Opera and The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture. The orchestra’s honorary patron is Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska.

The UFO assembles each summer and its three international tours have so far taken in some of the most prestigious concert halls, as well as some of the great cathedrals, of Europe and the United States. These include the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Lincoln Center in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, St Paul’s Cathedral in London and Saint Eustache in Paris. The 2024 Beethoven Ninth Freedom Tour celebrated the symphony’s 200th anniversary with a unique version of the work featuring its inspirational choral cry of freedom, “Ode to Joy,” sung in Ukrainian and included a concert, symbolic of the struggle against oppression, in the Gdansk Shipyards in Poland, birthplace of the Solidarity Movement.

The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will tour again in the summer of 2025. Details to be announced in the Spring.

Watch:

Recording:

The highlight of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra’s 2023 European tour was its emotionally charged performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, with Schiller’s great poem “Ode to Joy”, his cry of freedom, resistance and progress against the forces of oppression, memorably sung by the soloists and chorus in Ukrainian. The Warsaw concert, captured in this recording, was the first time the symphony’s text had been presented in translation outside of Ukraine. Schiller’s poem was rendered in a new performance version prepared by UFO founder and conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson working with her Ukrainian musical colleague Ievgeniia Iermachkova. This new singing translation followed the precedent set by Leonard Bernstein, who conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Berlin on Christmas Day 1989, just weeks after the fall of the Wall, in that it made one important change. Bernstein famously altered Schiller’s opening word “Freude” (Joy) to “Freiheit” (Freedom) and in so doing defined a moment of hope in German, and world, history. In making her performance version Wilson followed Bernstein’s lead and the opening word of the piece in Ukrainian was “Slava”, from the phrase that has become familiar around the world as the rallying call of Ukrainian resistance in the face of ruthless Russian aggression, Slava Ukraini! (“Glory to Ukraine!"). 

Upcoming Performances:

Summer 2025 Tour dates to be announced shortly

For more information about the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, please visit www.ukrainianfreedomorchestra.org

Follow the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra on instagram here.