Montreal orchestra plays Ukrainian classics in 'solidarity' as Russian threat looms

Ukrainian musicians in Montreal play in solidarity Ukrainian musicians in Montreal will play a concert dedicated to Ukraine in solidarity of the current crisis.

Not only Canadian politicians are sending support to Ukraine and Ukrainians right now, as Russia threatens invasion.

In Montreal, musicians are also taking a stand, with members of the Orchestre Classique de Montreal dedicating a concert to the Ukrainian community.

"I think you can never underestimate solidarity, and that’s really the simple truth," said Taras Kulish, the orchestra's executive director.

He has family in Ukraine, he said.

"Having grown up with the Soviet system in place, we never thought Ukraine would be free, and it [was] with the fall of the Iron Curtain, and now we’re being threatened again."

Michael Shwec of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Quebec echoed the same feeling.

"It’s a little bit hard to believe, because the threat of large-scale invasion is still very real," he said.

But whatever their link with Ukraine, the musicians are hoping they'll make a musical connection with the country, and their audience.

"This variety of different music people are going to hear tonight, most particularly Ukrainian music, will strike a responsive cord," conductor Boris Brott said ahead of the performance.

It would, he hoped, "make them walk out of this thing [saying] ‘Well of course Ukraine should be separate,'" he said.

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