“Even though we love Russian music and even though the programmed works clearly have a positive and pacifist message, we don’t want to play Russian music today, out of respect for our Ukrainian colleagues and friends.”
“Dear audience, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen!
On 2 March 2022, we would have liked to play works by Rachmaninov and Shostakovich for you.
Music stands for good and against evil.
Music connects people, across geographical, political, linguistic or confessional borders.
But even though we love Russian music and even though the programmed works clearly have a positive and pacifist message, we do not want to play Russian music today, out of respect for our Ukrainian colleagues and friends. Instead, we will perform Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Here, the key of the drama, C minor, will change to C major at the end, the key of creation and humanity.
At the beginning we will play the “Prayer for Ukraine”, composed by Valentin Sylvestrov in 2014. I ask you not to applaud at the end of this prayer, but to rise with the orchestra for a minute’s silence.