The conductor from Kherson was probably murdered last month. He loved the accordion because, with the violin, it was the sound of Ukraine
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskHe, and they, were favourites in the city. They played everything: classical selections, opera highlights, “modern and ancient romances”, jazz, Ukrainian folk tunes. Since 2000 he had been principal conductor, combining the job for a decade with that of chief conductor at the city’s Mykola Kulish Music and Drama Theatre, which also put on events to suit everyone’s taste.
It was therefore not surprising that he was asked to conduct an “international” concert on October 1st. But nor was it surprising that he categorically refused. For since March 2nd Kherson, a southern city where the Dnieper river meets the Black Sea, had been under Russian occupation. The citizens had resisted, but were ground down by the enemy’s military machine. Protests were broken up with live rounds and hundreds of arrests. Many of those arrested disappeared; other resisters were abducted.
Why did the human species go to war at all? Weren’t there better ways, like investment and co-operation? He liked to put up at least some posts that stressed the nobility of man: a list of search engines for academic journals and rare books, with a photograph of the Long Hall in the library of Trinity College Dublin; and a video of Claudio Abbado conducting Mahler’s First Symphony, a hymn to Mother Earth.
Clearly the October concert had been dreamt up by the military-civilian junta to promote the lie that Kherson was a peaceful, civilised place under Russian rule. Why, it even put on concerts! The Philharmonic had a new head and new artistic director, both appointed by the Russians, who persuaded the musicians to play. Some needed threatening; others happily complied. For Yurii this collaboration was the most painful, insidious thing he was witnessing in his city.