The sound of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine is filling – even overfilling – the smaller of the two performance spaces of the Kyiv Philharmonic Hall. Under the sparkling chandeliers of the elegant, if slightly battered space, the orchestra is doing its first read-through of a new work by one of Ukraine’s most respected senior composers, Yevhen Stankovych, before its Kyiv premiere. Through the hall’s tall windows the great rainbow-shaped monument to the freedom of the Ukrainian people – originally built by the Soviets to symbolise Russian and Ukrainian unity – gleams in the afternoon sun.
As the first violins scale the heights of their fingerboards, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine seems very far away. The only hint of it is in conductor Volodymyr Sirenko’s stool, which is covered in pixellated Ukrainian army camouflage material. That and, for the orchestra themselves, the absence of a couple of colleagues: the viola player who is now a musician in the army; the tuba player who is now a machine gunner. And then there is the title of the new work, which is for choir, soloists and orchestra. It leaves no room for doubt. It’s called Ukraine: Music of War.
