A choir marked the three year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a performance at Southwark Cathedral.
The Songs for Ukraine Chorus, which showcases Ukrainian composers in order to fundraise for Hospitallers Ukraine Aid, performed on Tuesday.
The choir said their mission is to help the war effort by sharing Ukrainian musical heritage and culture in the U.K.
The group was formed two years ago by the Royal Ballet and Opera and consists of around 150 Ukrainians, many displaced due to the war.
Choir member Khrystyna Protsiv, 44, said: “The day the war began, there was a recording of one missile going over my apartment.
“There was no time to think, I just had to just act, take my family and leave Kyiv.
”I hope this concert will be a little step towards a victory for Ukraine and hope for all Ukrainians.”
Protsiv fled her home in Kyiv with her three daughters, now 6, 8 and 16, and joined the choir soon after moving to the U.K to help the war effort.
The chorus has since gained notoriety, performing on BBC Radio Three and at the Royal Opera House.
Chorus soloist Tetiana Makovei, 40, said: “I’ve found that music is the quickest way to explain how we feel, even if a person does not understand what we are singing, they feel it.
“This gave us the platform not only to sing but to tell our stories. We have 150 different stories.
“This is some light that we hang onto and try to spread.”
Ukrainian Pianist Sasha Grynyuk and theatre actress Kristin Milward also performed at the concert.
Milward presented readings from the works of Ukrainian writers Victoria Amelina and Maksym Kryvtsov, both killed in the war.
Milward performs one-woman plays around Europe, and plans to visit Ukraine for a third time to aid the war effort.
She said: “I feel incredibly strongly about this, I just want people to wake up and realise.”
The concert centred the Southwark and global Christian community in its message of resilience.
Conductor Bohdan Parashchak chose songs like ‘Lord of Heaven and Earth’, that are sung before Lent in Ukrainian churches, as well as songs like ‘Do you hear me my brother’ that were written in times of struggle and resilience.
Milward said: “The Ukrainian culture is folk culture, it is rooted in the church, it provides a sense of national identity at a time they were robbed of that.
“It is the church that held the culture together before, and it is the same now.”
The Cathedral worked in collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland to put on this performance.
The Dean of Southwark Mark Oakley said: “Southwark Cathedral, along with so many in our local community, supports the urgent need for a just, sustainable and comprehensive peace.”
The Songs for Ukraine Chorus are planning to keep performing to raise money until the war is over.
Supporters can donate to their cause on their Hospitallers Ukraine Aid JustGiving page.
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