Kyiv, Sept. 9, 2024 — Keri-Lynn Wilson, the 57 year old conductor who has helped lead the fight for Ukraine’s freedom on the cultural front ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has been named the Music Director of Ukraine’s leading chamber orchestra, the Kyiv Camerata, it was announced today by Bohdana Pivnenko, the orchestra’s General and Artistic Director.
The Kyiv Camerata was established in 1977 by Valery Matyukhin, its sole previous conductor who died in 2023. It was created with the support of Ukraine’s Union of Composers to champion and commission works by leading contemporary composers, including Valentin Sylvestrov, Yevgeny Stankovych, and Myroslav Skoryck.
“We chose Keri-Lynn because of her musical strengths and her commitment to Ukrainian contemporary music,” said Ms. Pivnenko. “In Ukraine, she is now regarded as one of our cultural heroes.”
“The musicians of Ukraine are the artistic soul of this brave country, fighting for its future,” said Ms. Wilson. “It’s my duty to do all I can to help defend them in their struggle for freedom.”
Ms. Wilson’s international career as a conductor has taken her to many of the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls. As a direct response to Russia’s 2022 invasion, she founded the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra with the assistance of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Polish National Opera, and Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture. Under the patronage of Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, Ms. Wilson has led the Orchestra on three international tours and released a Deutsche Grammophon recording of their unique Ukrainian language version of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Last month on Ukrainian Independence Day, President Zelensky awarded Ms. Wilson the Order of Princess Olga in recognition of her contributions to Ukrainian culture.
In her new position with the Kyiv Camerata, Ms. Wilson will lead the chamber orchestra in concerts in Ukraine and abroad. In early October they will perform at the annual contemporary music festival in Kyiv and, in a combined concert with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, will perform in Kyiv on Nov 23rd in honor of the millions of victims of Stalin’s many purges. More performances in Ukraine will follow in the spring and early summer of 2025 as well as a concert in Berlin in April 2025. Plans for international tours by the Kyiv Camerata to the United States and elsewhere are being organized for upcoming seasons.
HISTORY OF THE KYIV CAMERATA
“Kyiv Camerata”, the National Ensemble of Soloists, was founded in 1977 by renowned Ukrainian conductor and pianist Valery Matyukhin with the support of the Ukrainian Union of Composers. Its mission is the promotion of Ukrainian music of all eras and styles. From this unique place within the Ukrainian musical world, it has given premieres of hundreds of works by contemporary Ukrainian composers. In 2000 the orchestra was awarded the official status of a “National“ institution in recognition of its significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian musical art and culture. Throughout its near half century of music making the ensemble has performed Ukrainian music around the world with concerts in the UK, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria and elsewhere. Since the Russian invasion it has taken its message of cultural resilience to Germany, Georgia and the United States, where its 2024 tour included a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York under the baton of Keri-Lynn Wilson and featuring acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. The death of Valery Matyuhin in the spring of 2023 was a great loss not only for his colleagues, but for the musical life of Ukraine. But under the new leadership of Maestro Wilson, only our second ever Music Director and such an inspirational supporter of Ukrainian culture, we look forward to honoring his legacy and continuing to share at home and abroad the remarkable musical creativity of our country.
ABOUT KERI-LYNN WILSON
Maestro Keri-Lynn Wilson is the founding conductor and music director of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. Her international career as a conductor of opera and symphonic music has taken her to many of the world’s leading opera houses and symphony orchestras. Among the opera companies she has conducted most recently are the Royal Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the Paris Opera and the Deutsche Opera Berlin. Among the orchestras she has most recently led are the NHK Symphony, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz. As a staunch supporter of Ukrainian liberty, Maestro Wilson conducted the Kyiv Camerata in Ukraine and in New York, and at the Lviv Opera House performed the Verdi Requiem to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the Ukrainian performance version she created.
