The solidarity concert took place!
Dear supporters of the YsOu,
The Beethovenfest Bonn 2022 has been over for about a week now and we look back on an eventful festival with many musical and human highlights characterized by a sense of community between audience, team and artists. We have heard touching concerts, celebrated glittering parties and made exciting artistic discoveries. Thank you for a extraordinary Beethovenfest 2022!
A standout experience was the solidarity concert on August 29 at the Bonn Opera House. Not only did the YsOU together with pianist Dmytro Choni and violinist Andrii Murza, conducted by Oksana Lyniv, euphorize the audience with a demanding and intense concert program, but their words and music touched the audience and over 32,000 viewers on Deutsche Welle's youtube livestream, emotionally highlighting the omnipresent presence of war. You can still watch the whole concert here, and also read the program of the concert here (german only)!
©Michael Staab
The premiere of Victoria Poleva's "Butscha.Lacrimosa" - a work that deals with the events in the small town of Butscha near Kiev as a result of the Russian siege in a depressing way - was particularly moving. A user in the livestream wrote: "The piece was absolutely heartbreaking. Intense, lyrical, unbelievably sad and spiritual, like an always repeating question..."
©Michael Staab
The question of when the suffering of the people in Ukraine and the Russian war of aggression will finally come to an end will probably have to return frequently. It is important that we as a community continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine, condemn Russian atrocities and help especially young Ukrainians, like those musicians of YsOU, to build their future, which of course includes a free and peaceful Ukraine.
We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for having walked this path with us and for having been able to contribute a small but important and symbolic part to it together with the solidarity concert. We at the Beethovenfest will not tire of continuing our commitment to this orchestra and young artists in Ukraine!
Slava Ukraini! 
©Michael Staab