There were climaxes in Verdi\u2019s Requiem that would surely have registered on a seismometer as they gathered into a thrillingly elemental roar before dissipating as a series of echoed convulsions into the vast dome above. There were choral susurrations that swept over the orchestra, exhortations delivered in crisp consonants. There were sinuous woodwind lines that took a few seconds to wend their way out of the orchestral clamour, and vocal soloists \u2013 Natalya Romaniw, Natalie Lewis, Ren\u00e9 Barbera and Jongmin Park \u2013 who cut instantly through it in a shock of full-frontal expressivity from the very front of the stage.<\/p>\n
Four years after making their UK debut with their second ever performance<\/a>, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra is now on its fifth international summer tour. Founded by Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson<\/a> in response to the Russian invasion<\/a> in February 2022, this orchestra has always had a mission bigger than producing a good performance. And what counts as \u201cgood\u201d is always shaped by circumstance, after all. As the numerous speeches that preceded the music stressed, the UFO tour as \u201ccultural ambassadors\u201d, their work centred on hope and resilience, solidarity and justice at what one Ukrainian diplomat called \u201cprobably the most difficult moment in our modern history\u201d. One of the orchestra\u2019s percussionists is away at the frontline \u2013 so too is the son of composer Bohdana Frolyak<\/a>, whose Gloria opened the concert, its smudgy chromaticism weighted with sadness.<\/p>\n No wonder, in this context, that as the final notes of Verdi\u2019s Requiem died away, the orchestra received an immediate standing ovation. Wilson hailed its members as \u201cUkraine\u2019s artistic heroes\u201d before launching into a rendition of the country\u2019s national anthem. The fact that Wilson\u2019s swift tempi in certain movements of the Requiem resulted in an instant, chaotic blurring of texture and ensemble in this near-impossible cathedral acoustic, that the string tone was less polished than it might have been, that many of Verdi\u2019s finer details were lost in the melee \u2013 all of it ultimately registered less than the white-hot intensity of the performance as Wilson leaned in towards the musicians, her focus on them seemingly total, their sound overwhelming.<\/p>\n