Dedicated to Invincible Ukraine
A special event dedicated to the struggle of the Ukrainian people for freedom and independence. The soloists, choir and orchestra of Lviv National Opera perform Symphony No. 9 by L. van Beethoven under the baton of Keri-Lynn Wilson, a well-known Ukrainian-Canadian conductor. Symphony No. 9 in D minor is one of the most renowned works of Ludwig van Beethoven. Even two centuries after its creation, this impressive and sublime masterpiece of world music classics still stands as the ultimate musical affirmation of the invincibility of the human spirit. Keri-Lynn Wilson will present a new interpretation of Symphony No. 9, with particular emphasis on its finale, the well-known Ode to Joy, which will be performed in the Ukrainian language. The concert program also features the Ukrainian premiere of the symphonic composition “Nova. Dedication to the Courage of Ukraine” by the contemporary composer Viktoriia Poliova. This second visit of the well-known conductor to Lviv National Opera is a gesture of solidarity and support for Ukrainian artists. In February of this year, Keri-Lynn Wilson conducted a concert commemorating the first anniversary of the full-scale war, “In Memory of the Invincible”, featuring a requiem by G. Verdi and “Bucha. Lacrimosa” by Viktoriia Poliova. According to the conductor, this upcoming event should serve as “a symbol of moral support for a nation at war.
The concert features:
Viktoriia Poliova. “Nova. Dedication to the Courage of Ukraine” for symphony orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven. Symphony No. 9 in D minor
Performers:
Soloists:
Sofiia Solovii, soprano
Anastasiia Polishchuk, mezzo-soprano
Maksym Vorochek, tenor
Volodymyr Shynkarenko, bass
Orchestra and choir of Lviv National Opera
Conductor – Keri-Lynn Wilson
Choirmaster – Vadym Yatsenko
Director – Vasyl Vovkun
Short Description
Keri-Lynn Wilson, conductor
Keri-Lynn Wilson’s career as a conductor spans more than twenty years, and includes engagements at both opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper and Metropolitan Opera, and with orchestras including the LA Phil, and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
Most recently, her idea of defending Ukraine through music resulted in the creation of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, an ensemble composed of leading Ukrainian musicians from inside the embattled country, as well as recent refugees and Ukrainian members of European orchestras. In July and August 2022, led by Ms. Wilson, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra toured across Europe, performing at the BBC Proms in London, the Edinburgh Festival, the Les Chorégies d’Orange festival in France, Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park and the Kennedy Center among other venues.
Other highlights of Ms. Wilson’s 2022/23 season include her return to Covent Garden, conducting La Traviata; and performances with Tokyo’s NHK Orchestra, the Hessische Staatsorchester Wiesbaden, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, the Wrocław Philharmonic, Orchestre national Bordeaux Aquitaine, and the Lithuanian National Orchestra. She returns to her alma mater, Juilliard, to conduct the double bill of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi and to the Opéra de Montréal to conduct Madama Butterfly in the spring.
Over a rich and varied career, Ms. Wilson has conducted, amongst many other orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the San Francisco Symphony, the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz, the Prague Philharmonia, the RAI Symphony Orchestra, the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Orchestre national d’Ile de France, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Toronto Symphony and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal.
Ms. Wilson’s career operatic highlights include Carmen at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and La Traviata at the Wiener Staatsoper, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Madama Butterfly at the Deutsche Oper, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and La Traviata at the Opernhaus Zürich, Don Carlo, Iolanta, Manon Lescaut, Carmen, Tosca, and La traviata at the Bolshoi Theatre, La Fanciulla del West and Aïda at the English National Opera, Rusalka at the Czech National Opera, Rigoletto at the Norwegian National Opera, Der Fliegende Holländer, Carmina Burana, Boris Godunov, and Carmen at the Polish National Opera, Faust at the Washington National Opera, Pique Dame and Tosca at the Latvian National Opera and Madama Butterfly at the Canadian Opera Company. She was the first female conductor to lead an opera at: the Arena di Verona, where she conducted Tosca and Madama Butterfly; the New National Theatre (NNT) Tokyo, where she led Madama Butterfly; and the Opera di Roma, where she conducted Aïda.
Of partial Ukrainian descent, Ms. Wilson was raised in Winnipeg, Canada, home of North America’s most concentrated Ukrainian population, where she studied flute, piano, and violin from an early age. While still a student at Juilliard, she assisted Claudio Abbado at the Salzburg Festival, and won a fellowship from the Tanglewood Music Center. Upon graduating from Juilliard with a masters both in flute and conducting, she was named the Associate Conductor at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Viktoriia Poliova, composer
Laureate of Taras Shevchenko National Prize. Works with symphonic, choral, chamber-instrumental genres. Her works have been performed on such stages at Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Berlin and Cologne Philharmonic Halls, Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), Rudolfinum- Dvořák Hall, Concert Nacional de España, George Weston Recital Hall (Toronto), Yerba Buena Theater (San Francisco ), Oriental Art Center (Shanghai), contemporary music festivals in Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, UAE, Peru and Chile.