The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra’s fourth summer tour will see it visit old friends and new. Debut concerts in countries that have shown such staunch support for Ukraine and its people in their moment of need, in the Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia and at the George Enescu Festival in Romania, will be staged alongside return visits to Lucerne, Amsterdam, Warsaw, and London. With a program featuring Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony as a symbol of resilience and hope, the tour brings together supporters from many nations at a decisive time in Ukraine’s continuing defense of its sovereignty and cultural identity. 

The audiences will hear a suite by Ukrainian composer Maxim Kolomiiets from the opera “The Mothers of Kherson” – a historic work receiving its Latvian premiere. The opera, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and the Polish National Opera, is based on true events: Ukrainian mothers who traveled over 3,000 miles across borders to rescue their deported children. This music reflects not only the fearlessness and love of a mother but also the profound strength of the human spirit. Kolomiiets, being an oboist and a master of orchestral color, creates striking and unexpected soundscapes, blending the brightest traditions of European classical music with Ukrainian folklore and contemporary aesthetics.

Program:

Maxim Kolomiiets (*1981)  – Suite from The Mothers of Kherson

Richard Strauss (1864–1949) – Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (with Rachel Willis-Sørensen)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) – Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67