Dubbed “The Invincible Tour”, it will span Europe and the United States in a programme centering on two monumental pillars of the symphonic and choral repertoire: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Verdi’s Requiem, in which the orchestra will be joined by soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis, tenor René Barbera, and bass Soloman Howard.
The repertoire also includes Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, as well as two works by Ukrainian composers - Maxim Kolomiiets’s Suite from The Mothers of Kherson, and Bohdana Frolyak’s Gloria, a piece dedicated “to all the heroes who have given their lives in this terrible war and to all who stand and defend Ukraine from this total evil.”
The inaugural concert at the National Opera in Warsaw on August 16 will be followed by performances at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and Dublin’s National Concert Hall, with the two final events at David Geffen Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center.
The orchestra’s founder and conductor, Keri-Lynn Wilson, told the media: “Five years into this terrible war, Ukraine’s spirit remains unbroken and unbreakable. The programme for our 2026 Invincible Tour speaks to this courage and to this moment in history. I am proud to once again lead these extraordinary musicians, soldiers of music, across Europe and to the United States to bear witness to an invincible Ukraine and to a culture that will never be silenced. We play for those who are fighting, for those who have been lost, for a better future, and for all who believe that freedom will prevail. Slava Ukraini!”
First Lady Olena Zelenska described the tour in a statement as “a journey, where every chord is an act of solidarity and every symphony is a reminder that the light of humanity always prevails, even in the darkest times.”
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra brings together leading musicians based in Ukraine alongside those forced to leave the country as refugees, and Ukrainian artists from several European ensembles. It was created in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Polish National Opera, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
In previous years, the ensembles performed at such prestigious venues as the BBC Proms and the Barbican in London, and the Kennedy Center in Washington.
The 2026 tour is supported by the Government of Ireland as part of the Cultural Programme of Ireland’s 2026 Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The tour is managed by the Polish National Opera in association with Askonas Holt.
(mk)