A symphonic memorial concert to take place at the National Opera House in Kyiv. It will feature works by Max Bruch, Yevhen Stankovych, and Johannes Brahms, with over 160 performers (orchestra, choir, soloists) from fifteen countries worldwide under the direction of a native of Ukraine, Oksana Lyniv, conductor at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. 

The Performers

List of Artists – Babyn Yar

Producer – Pavlo Hunka

Conductor – Oksana Lyniv
Assistant Conductor – Ivan Cherednichenko

Stage Director – Annechien Koerselman
Assistant Stage Director – Roman Hurko

Orchestra – Hamburg Symphony Orchestra
Chorus – Dumka – The National Chorus of Ukraine

Singers

Soprano – Gal James
Tenor – Benjamin Butterfield
Bass-Baritone – Pavlo Hunka
Cellist – Roman Borys

Annechien Koerselman:

The Dutch stage director Annechien Koerselman studied direction at the Toneelacademie Maastricht. Since she has staged theatre pieces such as "Bluebeard" by Dea Loher and pieces written by herself "The Flying Dutchman".  Music is the common thread in their productions. That's why Annechien is also active as a stage director in musical theatre and Opera. She created among others the musical theatre performance of “The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats” and “The Music Factory”, for which she recieved the 'Junge Ohren-Preis 2012", the Opera “L'Isola Disabitata” by Haydn (the Dutch Touring Opera Enschede) and the music theatre performance “Beautiful Anna” by Marjolein Bierens (Zeelandia). 

Her productions are shown both in the Netherlands and abroad. In season 2012/2013 for instance she directed the newly written opera Kannst du pfeifen, Johanna (Hartmann/Kampe) at Die Deutsche Oper Berlin, where in 2014 her music-theatre performance Gold (Verbrugge/Edwards) was performed. Next season she will create a new piece called The Secret of The blue deer there. Commissioned by the Philharmonie Luxembourg Annechien wrote and directed several music-theatre productions like Firebird, Bout'chou 4 seasons and 4 elements, Carmencita and The Planets and she directed in 2015 at the Berliner Philharmonie the new opera "The Monster in the Maze" by Jonathan Dove, under musical direction of Sir Simon Rattle.

Recently, she stagedthe Chamber Opera “Black Perfume” (Diamantfabriek), the theatrical concert “The Garden Of Earthly Delights” (Calefax Reed Quintet) and “Dijkdrift” (Silbersee Calefax Reed Quintet). In addition to her work as a Stage director, Annechien regularly adapts novels for the stage and she writes plays.  More information: www.annechienkoerselman.nl. 

The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra:

The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra has since its inception in 1957 been a unique presence in the musical life of the city. The orchestra is known for concerts of the highest artistic standard, its uncommonly broad range of education and outreach activities, and its traditional home: the Hamburg Symphony is the Orchestra in Residence of Hamburg’s celebrated Laeiszhalle.

After almost 60 years, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra is an essential part of Hamburg’s musical life and of the city’s vision to establish Hamburg as a musical metropolis. Since the beginning of their collaboration in 2009, Artistic Director Daniel Kühnel and internationally renowned Principal Conductor Jeffrey Tate have won praise for their innovative programming. Stimulating and distinctive repertoire has become a trademark of the orchestra’s concerts and has contributed to a significant increase in audience numbers.

The singular profile of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra has also attracted attention beyond the borders of Hamburg and Germany. As a “thinking orchestra” from an emerging musical metropolis, the orchestra is establishing an international reputation. Highly acclaimed tours have taken the ensemble to Great Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Turkey, Poland, China, and the USA. 

The orchestra is known for providing a podium for outstanding talent: the exceptional violinist Guy Braunstein is currently Artist in Residence, and since the beginning of the 2014/15 season, the acclaimed conductor Ion Marin has been the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor. The unmistakable artistic character that the orchestra strives to cultivate speaks to listeners from all walks of life in Hamburg and beyond. For this reason, the orchestra does not perform exclusively in the Laeiszhalle, but also in the Hamburg Hochschule for Music and Theater, the Hamburg State Opera, and in numerous concert halls in the surrounding area. Educational programs for children and young people – both in the Laeiszhalle and in local schools – are a particular focus of the orchestra’s activity.

The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra works together with the city’s other musical organizations to give Hamburg a unique musical identity, and plays an active role in current social and political discussions. New accents in the city’s musical landscape underscore the orchestra’s aspirations for quality, originality, and accessibility. The success of these ideas demonstrates Hamburg’s potential as a modern and lively musical center and encourages the orchestra to continue the course it has undertaken.

Roman Hurko: 

an American-Canadian of Ukrainian descent, is a former member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio. He made his debut as a stage director at the Spoleto Festival (Italy) with Handel’s Semele; where he later co-directed War & Peace with Festival founder Gian Carlo Menotti.  

Roman is also grateful to have had the opportunity to have assisted Peter Sellers at The Salzburg Festival and, to have gained invaluable experience assisting other directors at Covent Garden (London) and at Opera Houses in Amsterdam, Houston, Detroit, Monte Carlo, Madrid and, while working at The Kennedy Center in Washington.

Roman’s early musical interests focused on composition, which he continued to pursue while directing opera. He composed the incidental music for two plays with the Yara Arts Group at the La Mama Experimental Theater Club in New York City: A Light From the East and Explosions.

In recent years, Roman has composed and recorded five major pieces of sacred music: Liturgy 2000 – The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (1999), Requiem for the Victims of Chornobyl (2001), Liturgy No. 2 (2003), Vespers (2005) and Liturgy No.3 (2011) premiered in New York. Plus Liturgy No.4 (2015) recently premiered in Toronto by the Vesnivka Women’s Choir.

In addition, individual sacred works have been taken into the repertoire of choirs in Western and Eastern Churches in Canada, America, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Australia, Finland, and in Ukraine. 

Roman’s success as a composer has been recognized by the Composer’s Union of Ukraine; he was elected into the organization in 2004. Along with his composing and directing, Roman is honored to be one of the producers for the Ukrainian Art Song Project.

Pavlo Hunka

Internationally Acclaimed Opera Singer Pavlo Hunka was born in England, the son of a Ukrainian father and an English mother.  He qualified as a Linguist and then practised as a Lawyer in the United Kingdom for 4 years before embarking on a stellar singing career. He began his vocal studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and completed them in Switzerland with Kammersängerin Maria Sandulescu. 

Pavlo began his operatic journey in Basel, Switzerland, where he sang many of the Bass-Baritone roles in the Russian, German, French and Italian repertoires. For the last 27 years, he has sung in the most prestigious opera houses of the world - Paris, Vienna, Munich, Florence, Amsterdam, Madrid, Moscow, London, Salzburg, Rome, Berlin, Toronto; under a glittering array of conductors:  Claudio Abbado, Jeffrey Tate, Semion Bychkov, Zubin Mehta, Peter Schneider, Mark Wigglesworth, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Daniel Barenboim, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kirill Petrenko and Kasushi Ono.

Highlights include: Don Pizarro Fidelio at Munich and Vienna State Operas, the title role in Wozzeck at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, Doctor Wozzeck at the State Opera in Berlin, Schigolch Lulu in Brussels and Munich, Macbeth in Berlin, Falstaff at the Canadian Opera Company, Tomski Pique Dame at Teatro Real Madrid, Klingsor Parsifal and Hunding Walküre at the Bolshoi in Moscow, Alberich Siegfried in Lyon, Nekrotzar Le Grand Macabre in Brussels, the General in Prokoffiev’s The Gambler in Amsterdam, Simone The Florentine Tragedy in Geneva, Boris Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in London, Šiškov From the House of the Dead in Berlin in the acclaimed Patrice Chéreau production with Sir Simon Rattle. 

Future projects include: Dikoj Katja Kabanova, Schigolch Lulu, Tsar Dodon in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel, the world premiere of The Monster in the Maze by Jonathan Dove with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Ring Cycle in Denmark with Alexandr Vedernikov, Le Grand Macabre with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony. 

2016 marks Pavlo’s premiere performance in Ukraine, an art song recital on 5th June at the National Philharmonic in Kyiv, on 9th June at the Lviv Philharmonic.  He also appears at the 75th anniversary of Babyn Yar at the National Opera Theatre in Kyiv on 29th September.  

Pavlo makes his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine on May 18th 2017 in Zemlinsky’s The Florentine Tragedy.

Pavlo is Artistic Director of the Ukrainian Art Song Project, www.ukrainianartsong.ca whose aim is to record an Anthology of over 1000 Ukrainian classical art songs by 26 Ukrainian composers; songs never heard by the world, songs that deserve to be performed on the world stage!