RCS students from Ukraine to share music from their homeland in charity concert

Published: 24/02/2023

Ukrainian students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland will come together tonight (Friday) for a concert to shine a light on the music of their homeland, on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Six students, who are in the first year of their Bachelor of Music degrees, will perform a programme of music from Ukrainian composers, including folk pieces, in The Value of Freedom, which takes place at St Margaret’s Scottish Episcopal Church in Newlands, Glasgow, from 7pm.

Concert organiser Kateryna Babenko, a pianist, who is in first year of the Bachelor of Music Composition degree programme, said: “The concert is dedicated to the first, and hopefully last, anniversary of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

“We would like to show something about our culture with music by different Ukrainian composers. “This is not the kind of anniversary we would like to celebrate but, in our opinion, it’s the kind of anniversary that can’t be forgotten.”

Kateryna Babenko (left) and Kateryna Tunina

The musicians are:

• Kateryna Tunina, cello, BMus Performance
• Anastasiia Syvash, violin, BMus Performance
• Viktor Kovach, trombone, BMus Performance
• Reese Manglicmot, piano, BMus Composition
• Anna-Mariia Hryhoriak, piano, BMus Performance
• Kateryna Babenko, piano, BMus Composition
• Michael Bawtree, organ, RCS Conducting Lecturer/Coordinator

The concert is free with the option to donate to a collection for the Glasgow branch of the charity, The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain.

This academic year, due to the UK and Scottish Government’s visa and sponsor programmes and the Scottish Government’s home fee status for displaced Ukrainians, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has been able to welcome around 30 students from Ukraine on undergraduate and Junior Conservatoire programmes.

More information on RCS’s support for Ukrainian students can be found on the website.