Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra Reunites for Landmark Concert

Led by conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, the orchestra’s performance will mark three years since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 

Founded by Keri-Lynn Wilson in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra (UFO) is under the patronage of Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, and aims to defend Ukraine’s artistic legacy and values of freedom. 

Among the musicians include those based in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and elsewhere in Ukraine; musicians in Ukraine forced into exile by the war; and Ukrainian members of European orchestras. 

On February 25, 2025, the UFO will perform at Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki with its own version of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, where the choral text based on Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy,” will be sung in Ukrainian. 

Wilson has worked with Ievgeniia Iermachkova to change “Freude” in Schiller’s text to “Slava” (meaning “Glory”) — derived from the phrase “Slava Ukraini!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”), which has become a rallying call for Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion. 

This cultural and historical gesture is also a nod to Bernstein’s move in changing Schiller’s “Freude” (meaning “Joy”) to “Freiheit” (“Freedom”) when conducting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony just weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. 

Guest musicians joining the UFO will include the Ukrainian solo singers Olga Bezsmertna, Nataliia Kukhar, Vasyl Solodkyy, and Vladyslav Buialskyi, as well as the Choir of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic.

To be livestreamed by arte.tv across Europe, the performance will be released as a film on PBS from March 6, 2025, and a broadcast will be made on PBS stations on March 28 at 10:30 PM ET.

This concert follows three UFO summer tours in Europe and the U.S — which have also presented the music of contemporary Ukrainian composers such as Silvestrov, Skoryk, and Stankovych — and a live recording on Deutsche Grammophon in 2024 of the UFO’s rendition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. 

Additionally, the UFO featured in Beethoven’s Nine: Ode to Humanity, a documentary on the symphony’s role in the contexts of war and hope. The UFO will gather again in summer 2025 to embark on its next tour. 

“Whether it’s three years or 30 years, our mission to defend Ukraine’s culture and its brave people shall carry on,” Wilson said in the press release. “It’s so right that we gather once again in Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki, our home away from home, to send our musical message for Ukraine’s liberty to the world. In our Ukrainian-language version of Beethoven’s Ninth’s ‘Ode to Joy,’ we sing ‘Slava’ for the glory of a free Ukraine. Our support for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in their fight for democracy shall never falter.”

“The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra’s remarkable concert tours have seen it become not only the musical voice of Ukraine, but a powerful cultural voice for everyone who cares about liberty in the face of aggression,” expressed First Lady Zelenska.