Recently, St James’s Church, Sussex Gardens, in central London hosted a concert entitled Symbols, performed by the Lihtar Orchestra and Choir and organised in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute.
The Lihtar Orchestra and Choir is an independent ensemble of Ukrainian and international students from London conservatoires, specialising in contemporary Ukrainian music. The evening’s performance was conducted by Maksym Levytskyy.
The centrepiece of the programme was the British premiere of Hanna Havrylets’ symphonic poem Signs. The work was composed at the end of 2013 during the Revolution of Dignity, with the support of the Polish foundation Fundacja Pro Musica Viva and the Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego.
The composer explained her idea as follows: “Signs are the oldest attribute of human life… The task of a person is to be able to recognise the meaning of their appearance in the surrounding world.”
The poem was included in the Anthology of Ukrainian Symphonic Miniatures prepared by the Ukrainian Institute in 2024.
The programme also featured the Prelude and Liebestod from Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde, as well as the Suite from Alban Berg’s opera Lulu.
The event was partnered by the British-American foundation Ukrainian Action, which implements rehabilitation programmes for Ukrainian military personnel. The concert formed part of the Ukrainian Institute’s long-term programme Sforzando, which aims to showcase Ukrainian musicians at major international events in the field of classical music.