"Excuse me, I'm going to read this text from my laptop because it's very fresh. We finished it a few minutes ago, and it is a direct response to Berlin around us. It's the Classical:NEXT conference, one of the biggest theatre festivals in the world, Theatertreffen, the ITEM conference; it's thousands of events going on at the same time. And everywhere people complain about the lack of money for culture and similar problems. This is a pan-European situation.
Dear friends, I thank the organisers of this wonderful conference, I thank all the members of the international jury, I thank all our partners around the world who have supported us all these difficult years. We are very happy to be with you today. We are extremely lucky, because if the Russians had occupied Kyiv in 2022, we would probably all be either dead or imprisoned. Prison would be the only place in Ukraine for a contemporary political opera. This does not mean that classical music would have died there. Undoubtedly, instead of us, you would see Valery Gergiev, Teodor Currentzis and Anna Netrebko there. They would have performed Tchaikovsky's beautiful music in the Russian prison that the occupied territories are becoming.
To leave no doubt about this, I will give you a short list - these are just seven names from the horrific endless list of Ukrainian artists, musicians, ordinary people and children killed in Ukraine by Russians over the past few years.
- Yuriy Kerpatenko - conductor of the Kherson Philharmonic, killed by Russians for refusing to play the Russian anthem for the occupation administration;
- Kostyantyn Starovytskyy - bassoonist and opera conductor, killed by Russians while defending Ukraine;
- Ivan Kuzminskyy - researcher of ancient music, killed by Russians while defending Ukraine;
- Oleksandr Shapoval - winner of ballet awards, soloist of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine; killedby Russians while defending Ukraine;
- Hlib Fedyuk - 11-year-old boy and talented pianist killed by Russians in Kherson in a rocket attack on New Year's Eve;
- Slava Saltykov - saxophonist of the Mariupol Naval Band; He was held for many months in inhumane conditions in a Russian prison; tortured and killed by Russians;
- Olena Kohut - pianist and organist of the Sumy Theatre; killed by Russians on the street last month, on the morning of Palm Sunday.
As I said, this list is very long.
It may be hard to imagine, but Berlin and this particular scene are physically very close to war. We don't have any planes now - only Russian missiles are flying over Ukraine - but if you get on a bus (it's a very realistic bus journey through the European landscape), you will be in Ukraine in 10 hours. On the territory where you can be killed by Russians at any time and anywhere: on the street, in your own home or on the front line.
Travelling around Europe, we often hear complaints that cultural budgets are being cut while military spending is on the rise. In this regard, we urge you to heed the not always desirable but very realistic message of our time: as citizens, you also have a duty to support your army, understand its actions, and respect servicemen and women - people who do extremely difficult work.
Neglecting this can lead you to the tragedy we are experiencing now, and you will have to see your violinists standing behind machine guns, your sound engineers flying drones, and your ballet dancers digging trenches.
Of course, we do not wish this fate on any nation. But to avoid this, now, in Europe in 2025, we really need to rethink reality, be strong and be able to call black — black, and white — white.
Two members of our opera company who have been creating art with us for many years cannot be here with us today. Our producer Volodymyr Burkovets and recording director Andriy Nidzelskyy are now in the army, defending Ukraine, Europe, and the freedom of this continent. We miss them, we are grateful for their choice, we are waiting for them to come back alive, and we dedicate this award to them.
Thank you once again! Glory to Ukraine!"