THIS is the moving moment a Ukrainian refugee who fled from Odessa conducted the Bradford Festival Choral Society (BFCS) as they performed the country’s national anthem.
The society has had a link with Bradford’s Ukrainians ever since their choir was invited to perform at an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the community's arrival in the city.
We sing the Ukrainian national anthem at our concerts in solidarity with Bradford's Ukrainians, and when you find out there's a refugee from Odessa in the audience who's a conductor...thank you Viktoriia! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦@UkieClubLymanBD @thomas_leech @Bradford_TandA @bradford2025 pic.twitter.com/Ih0rzjcYjI
— Bradford Festival Choral Society (@BFCS1856) June 26, 2022
On Saturday they were performing their summer concert at Bradford Ukrainian Centre, singing Bach, Barbara Strozzi and an opera by Henry Purcell, with a team of up-and-coming young soloists and a specialist historical orchestra, Baroque in the North.
Thomas Leech, Musical Director of BFCS, said: “In the break between rehearsal and concert I got chatting to staff at the club and they mentioned that a Ukrainian refugee staying with them was a conductor and singer and desperate to get involved in music after all the trauma of having to leave her career in Ukraine behind.
Got chatting to the manager of the Ukrainian club we were performing in, and turned out a musician from Odessa was staying with them...it was a real pleasure to hand choir and players over to her 🎶🇺🇦🇺🇦🎶 https://t.co/1aIwoRgge7
— Tom Leech (@thomas_leech) June 26, 2022
“We were going to sing the Ukrainian national anthem at the start of the concert anyway, so it seemed like a great idea to get Viktoriia to conduct this - and with no time left for rehearsal she made it sound fabulous, our professional soloists and orchestra were blown away by the emotional intensity of the performance.”
The performance was met with rapturous applause at it came to an end.
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