Solidarity Concert for Ukraine

The Iceland Symphony Orchestra will perform a concert of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, with all profits going directly to Ukranian humanitarian aid.

Masterworks by three of music’s greatest composers will be heard alongside a work by the Ukranian composer Valentin Silvestrov. Born in 1937, Silvestrov is among Ukraine’s most respected composers. It made world news when he was able to flee his home city of Kyiv in early March 2022 with the help of foreign journalists, and has now reached safety in Berlin, Germany. The Messenger, was written in 1996 and has been one of his most successful works; a fascinating contemplation of the past in music.

Another work specifically performed for Ukraine is the haunting aria from Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Erbarme Dich, a humble plea for mercy in our troubled times.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his violin concertos as a teenager but they are nevertheless intricate and mature works that showcase the young composer’s talent. His fifth concerto is particularly impressive, with a final movement inspired by the Turkish military music of the 1770s, a popular source of inspiration for composers in Austria at the time.

Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 is among his most beloved works, a lively yet sometime also brooding composition. The second movement has become particularly popular, and used in a number of films including a memorable scene in The King’s Speech.

The Icelandic mezzo-soprano Hildigunnur Einarsdóttir will perform Bach’s solo aria; she is among Iceland’s most loved singers and took part in a performance of the St Matthew Passion in Hallgríms Church in Reykjavík in 2018.

Simos Papanas is among Greece’s most renowned violinists. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon and appeared at the Verbier Festival, but also is concertmaster of the Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra.

Kornilios Michailidis is the Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s conductor in residence for the 2021–22 season. He studied piano in Paris and the United States and completed his master’s degree in conducting from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2018. He was assistant conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2016–17 and of the Radio-France Philharmonic Orchestra in 2018–20. He has conducted many orchestras and operas, including Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Teatro Real Madrid, as well as conducting the Lahti Symphony and Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Enjoy an evening with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra while at the same time lending your support to the Ukranian people.

*The concert was originally called Mozart and Beethoven, before it was changed to a solidarity concert. The program still includes Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 5 and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 but two works have been added to the program: Silvestrov’s The Messenger and Bach’s Erbarme Dich.