Showing support for Ukraine and its music
Like many perhaps, I first knew of Babi Yar – where 100,000 Jews and others were murdered by Nazis – through Shostakovich’s Symphony No 13, which pays tribute to the murdered it memorialises and warns more broadly of barbarism. Would that it had continued to be the only way I encountered it. Instead, we have seen Babi Yar appearing in contemporary headlines, once again in the context of inhumanity, specifically in this instance the shelling of a radio mast that stands beside the site. The classical music world has largely responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine with condemnation, horror, and a desire to speak out. High-profile Russian-born conductors to have done so include Kirill Petrenko, who said: ‘Putin’s insidious attack on Ukraine, which violates international law, is a knife in…
