Can you name any Ukrainian composer? There is a reason why you probably cannot, even if you are a music lover and a regular visitor to concert halls. And that reason is not that Ukrainian classical music does not exist.
The ongoing war has an overarching strategic objective, in addition to petty territorial conquest: the destruction of the Ukrainian national identity. This is not the first time Ukraine is experiencing such an attempt. During centuries of tragic colonial history under different political regimes, Ukraine has suffered not only cultural appropriation but also bans on the use of the Ukrainian language, the destruction of cultural objects, and the persecution and physical elimination of Ukrainian artists, intellectuals and cultural figures.
This is happening again in our time. According to the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, from 22 February 2022 to October 2024, more than 130 cultural figures, including composers, performers, opera singers, conductors and music managers, were killed in Ukraine. At least 2,109 pieces of cultural infrastructure were damaged and another 368 were destroyed, including opera houses, concert halls and musical educational institutions. Of course, the true figures are even higher, because the war actually began in February 2014.
Since music lives by being heard, performance venues are essential to giving “voice” to the Ukrainian repertoire.
Various state institutions, private initiatives and individual activists are currently preserving and promoting Ukrainian classical music, both in Ukraine itself and in the world at large. At the request of the 缅北禁地Chronicle, I will share here my personal experience as a music professional in this regard.
Music is threatened
The threat that war poses to musical culture has several dimensions. One is the risk of damage, loss or destruction of music in its physical form: musical scores. The search for scores, their systematization, digitization, and subsequent publication and distribution to the community of performers and researchers, is paramount to the survival of Ukrainian music. It is necessary for all subsequent steps, from use in education to performances by musicians around the world. The “physical” aspect of musical practice also includes the availability of musical institutions and of musical instruments. All of this is currently at risk of destruction, jeopardizing both the professional activities of today’s musicians and the future of musical culture represented by music schools.
Since music lives by being heard, performance venues are essential to giving “voice” to the Ukrainian repertoire. Concerts in Ukraine are happening under the constant threat of destruction, forcing institutions to hold events in the subway or in dedicated shelters when they aren’t cancelled altogether. The events that do take place are often interrupted by blackouts or air raid alarms, as performers and audiences have to be sent to bomb shelters. Musicians, managers, researchers and music critics fight on the frontlines, and as often as not are wounded or give their lives for their country’s freedom. For thousands of Ukrainians in Ukraine whose lives have been upended and who every day face the threat of death, working to sustain the country’s cultural life in wartime is a genuine act of resistance.
Outside Ukraine, the sound of Ukrainian music is often a direct or indirect message—about the ongoing war, about the need for military and humanitarian support. Concert programmes with Ukrainian music also play a crucial educational role, as the world unfortunately still knows very little about the history and culture of Ukraine. However, if Ukrainian music is ever to have a sustainable place in the world repertoire, its representation must go beyond the military context, charity projects and direct dependence on political and social trends.
My experience in the promotion of Ukrainian musical heritage
It is obvious that the main ambassadors of Ukrainian music in the world should be Ukrainians themselves. In April and May 2022, the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, of which I was then the Executive Director, went on a European tour called “Voice of Ukraine”, the programme of which included works by Maksym Berezovsky, Mykola Lysenko, Borys Lyatoshynsky and Myroslav Skoryk alongside Western European music. Few of our Western colleagues even knew these names, although Borys Lyatoshynsky was one of the most important symphonists of the twentieth century. It was therefore even more important to perform this music in prestigious concert halls, such as the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Poland; the Berlin Philharmonic; and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. Since then, various Ukrainian symphonic and chamber ensembles have fulfilled a cultural mission on both sides of the Atlantic.
Many families whose children study music lost their instruments when their homes were destroyed in air attacks, ground combat or occupation.
However, the performance of Ukrainian music by predominantly Ukrainian musicians, in single concerts or short-term projects organized by Ukrainian figures, or by Western institutions as a gesture of solidarity, has a marginal place in the long-term planning of the world's music institutions. For this reason, my colleagues and I are working to make this music attractive and accessible to classical music professionals around the world.
At the end of February 2022, I, with my colleague Liubov Morozova of the Lyatoshynsky Club, and our colleagues from the Ukrainian Live project and the Ukrainian Institute, launched a project to collect Ukrainian scores into a large-scale online archive. Many of these scores have never been published, and even Ukrainian musicians often have no direct access to them. This collection continues to grow, and more and more enthusiasts—musicologists, curators, managers and performers—are joining the movement. We are looking for music sheets in public and private archives, and contacting soloists and ensembles that have performed specific works before and who therefore might still have access to certain scores. After having quickly gathered an initial collection, we began to contact institutions and individual musicians all over the world, offering to perform Ukrainian music. I engaged the Paris Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris, which asked me to curate a symphonic programme; research and curatorial assistance in the discovery of the Ukrainian repertoire is indeed important, as it is unfamiliar outside of Ukraine, even to classical music professionals. Thanks to the solidarity of the Paris Philharmonic, we have also organized direct aid for musicians from Ukrainian orchestras finding themselves in difficult situations at home or abroad. Through a dedicated mission project, we helped dozens of Ukrainian musicians secure temporary contracts with national-level orchestras in France, providing them with an opportunity to continue performing and to represent Ukraine on a professional level in top European institutions.
On this humanitarian side of supporting Ukrainian music, it is also worth mentioning the importance of assistance to music schools and to the families of young musicians affected by the war. Many schools that survived occupation or attacks on civilians have been damaged or destroyed, often including the musical instruments and other equipment the students need for their studies. Many families whose children study music lost their instruments when their homes were destroyed in air attacks, ground combat or occupation. To help young musicians continue to practice music, I, along with activist Iryna Gorkun-Silén from the Ukrainian Association in Finland, have coordinated an effort to collect and send musical instruments and equipment to affected schools and families. In the 2023/2024 season, this initiative was part of the Paris Philharmonic mission project.
In Paris in May 2023, I founded the , which is dedicated entirely to the popularization of Ukrainian music. Thanks to the support of the Columbia Global Center Paris and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, we regularly organize chamber concerts, with a repertoire policy to include works by Ukrainian composers with music by composers from different countries. Our programmes are designed to demonstrate the incorporation of Ukrainian music from the Classical era to the present day in global cultural trends. Gradually, in addition to Ukrainian musicians who are mostly members of the Paris Philharmonic Ukrainian mission project, we have begun to invite famous Western performers to participate in our concerts. This allows non-Ukrainian musicians to enrich their repertoire with Ukrainian works, while at the same time leveraging their fame to make themselves “ambassadors of Ukrainian music” who encourage the international public to investigate this repertoire. The 1991 Project also provides scores of rarely performed Ukrainian works to orchestras and ensembles, such as the Orchestre national d'?le-de-France and the Orchestre Colonne, and to soloists such as Jean-Guihen Queyras.
What you can do
No one knows when or how the war will end. No one knows how many more Ukrainian cultural personalities will die on the battlefield or in their homes during missile attacks, or how many theatres, archives, museums and schools will be destroyed. But for Ukraine to endure, its culture and its identity must be preserved. Anyone can help. Music supporters can ask institutions and orchestras to include Ukrainian music in their programming. Music lovers can attend concerts with Ukrainian music in the programme and listen to Ukrainian composers on whatever platform they use. Anyone can find and join initiatives to help Ukrainian music or musicians—any help is important. Ukraine has much to offer the world. Ukraine has a voice that deserves to be heard.
?
The 缅北禁地Chronicle is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
