Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra & Keri-Lynn Wilson

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral"
• 1 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso 14:57
• 2 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": II. Scherzo. Molto vivace – Presto 10:13
• 3 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": III. Adagio molto e cantabile 13:45
• 4 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVa. Presto 02:58
• 5 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVb. Allegro assai ("An die Freude" Instrumental) 03:17
• 6 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVc-d. Presto – Recit. O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! – Allegro assai (Sung in Ukrainian) 03:24
• 7 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVe-f. Allegro vivace assai. Alla marcia – Chorus. Freude, schöner Götterfunken (Sung in Ukrainian) 03:57
• 8 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVg. Andante maestoso. Seid umschlungen, Millionen (Sung in Ukrainian) 03:17
• 9 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVh. Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato (Sung in Ukrainian) 02:16
• 10 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVi. Allegro ma non tanto. Freude, Tochter aus Elysium (Sung in Ukrainian) 02:16
• 11 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVj. Poco Allegro, stringendo – Prestissimo (Sung in Ukrainian) 01:41
• Total Runtime 01:02:01

Info for Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

This recording of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra's emotionally charged performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Warsaw captures one of the artistic highlights of 2023. The orchestra was founded as a cultural backlash against Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine. Their Beethoven has the special feature that the text of Schiller's great freedom poem "Ode to Joy" is sung in Ukrainian. Schiller's opening word "Freude" (joy) is exchanged for the Ukrainian word "Slava" (glory), which conveys an electrifying effect in the moving echo of Ukraine's joint call for resistance in the face of aggression, Slava Ukraini! ("Honour be to Ukraine!").

Olga Kulchynska, soprano
Nicole Chirka, mezzo-soprano
Dmytro Popov, tenor
Vladyslav Buialskyi, bass-baritone
Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Choir in Białystok
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
Keri-Lynn Wilson, conductor

Keri-Lynn Wilson
is the founding conductor and music director of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. Her international career includes performances with leading orchestras, such as the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, and NHK Symphony Orchestra, and conducting at the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Bavarian State Opera, Paris Opera, and Vienna State Opera. She received a nomination for Conductor of the Year from the Opus Klassik 2020 Awards for her recording of Rossini’s Sigismondo with the Bayerische Rundfunk.

The Ukrainian violinist Valeriy Sokolov, winner of the George Enescu International Violin Competition in Bucharest, is one of the outstanding artists of his generation. Working regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, he regularly performs in major concert halls around the world.

Highlights of Ms. Wilson’s 2023/24 season include her house debut at Opéra national de Paris, conducting Cendrillon, a return to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden to conduct La bohème, and Janáček’s Jenůfa with the English National Opera. She will also be conducting the Sinfonieorchester of Theater St. Gallen, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin, and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. And in July Ms. Wilson and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will tour Europe and the United States.

Over a rich and varied career, Ms. Wilson has conducted, amongst many other orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Hessische Staatsorchester Wiesbaden, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma, the Wrocław Philharmonic, the Russian National Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonia, the RAI Symphony Orchestra, the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Orchestre national d'Ile de France, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Toronto Symphony and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal.

Ms. Wilson’s career operatic highlights include Carmen and La Traviata at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and La Traviata at the Wiener Staatsoper, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Metropolitan Opera, Salome at Houston Grand Opera La Traviata, Madama Butterfly and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Madama Butterfly at the Deutsche Oper, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and La Traviata at the Opernhaus Zürich, Don Carlo, Iolanta, Manon Lescaut, Carmen, Tosca, and La traviata at the Bolshoi Theatre, La Fanciulla del West and Aïda at the English National Opera, Rusalka at the Czech National Opera, Rigoletto at the Norwegian National Opera, Der Fliegende Holländer, Carmina Burana, Boris Godunov, and Carmen at the Polish National Opera, Faust at the Washington National Opera, Pique Dame and Tosca at the Latvian National Opera and Madama Butterfly at the Canadian Opera Company. She was the first female conductor to lead an opera at: the Arena di Verona, where she conducted Tosca and Madama Butterfly; the New National Theatre (NNT) Tokyo, where she led Madama Butterfly; and the Opera di Roma, where she conducted Aïda.

Of partial Ukrainian descent, Ms. Wilson was raised in Winnipeg, Canada, home of North America’s most concentrated Ukrainian population, where she studied flute, piano, and violin from an early age. While still a student at Juilliard, she assisted Claudio Abbado at the Salzburg Festival, and won a fellowship from the Tanglewood Music Center. Upon graduating from Juilliard with a masters both in flute and conducting, she was named the Associate Conductor at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

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