‘Music will help those who have stumbled to recover’

On 7 September, a new social-rehabilitation project for Ukraine, ‘With Music in the Heart’, aimed at the social rehabilitation of convicts, kicked off in Kharkiv.

Within the framework of this project, the ‘Slobozhansky’ Youth Academic Symphony Orchestra visited the Oleksiivska Penal Colony (No. 25).

Before the start of the concert, a briefing was held for journalists interested in this extraordinary event, with the participation of Deputy Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration V.V. Khoma, Head of the Administration of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv Region A.E. Slipchenko, and Head of Penal Colony No. 25 V.G. Khyrnyi.

‘We hope that this concert will have a serious positive effect,’ noted Deputy Chairman of the KRSA Vasyl Khoma. ‘People who are in places of deprivation of liberty are in isolation from society and lose social ties. And one such tie is music, which accompanies a person throughout their life. It is important that today’s concert restores this social tie. The Regional State Administration supports this initiative of the Penitentiary Service of Ukraine. We believe that this initiative should be developed, and we will facilitate it in every way.’

‘One of our duties is to create all conditions so that people who are in penal colonies can truly correct themselves and change for the better. Today’s event is aimed precisely at these goals. The concert at Colony No. 25 is a pilot. We will see how much the convicts enjoy this event and how much it finds a response in their souls. All people need at least a temporary light touch of high art. Our convicts should not be deprived of this opportunity,’ emphasised Head of the Administration, Anatoliy Slipchenko.

‘We are doing everything so that the convicts have the opportunity, while in the colony, to meet with the beautiful,’ noted Head of the Oleksiivska Penal Colony (No. 25), Viktor Khyrnyi. ‘For them, poetry evenings, meetings with famous musicians, and chess games are held. But the current concert, in its scale, the number of musicians involved, and the selection of the classical repertoire, is undoubtedly outstanding. We really hope that it will find a response in the souls of the convicts and our staff who have come to listen to the artists.’

The concert took place, as they say, in one breath. The programme featured popular classical music: works by J. Strauss, I. Dunaevsky, A. Khachaturian, J.S. Bach, and P. Tchaikovsky. The musicians played with inspiration; the convicts and colony staff listened, holding their breath. At the end of each composition, loud applause from the grateful audience rang out.

A surprise for all those present was the performance of the song ‘Zhuravli’ (Cranes) by convict Hennadiy Kotov, accompanied by the symphony orchestra. Hennadiy himself sings in the colony’s vocal-instrumental ensemble, however, he had certainly never participated in a concert of such a high level before. It was visible that Hennadiy was very nervous, but despite this, he sang well and earned applause from the hall.

At the end of the concert, the grateful listeners presented the performers with a fragrant karavai (traditional bread).

‘Music is in the soul of every person,’ believes the artistic director of the ‘Slobozhansky’ orchestra, Professor and People’s Artist of Ukraine Harry Abadjian. ‘And in the souls of people serving sentences in places of deprivation of liberty, there may be much music hidden; it just needs help being found. So ‘Slobozhansky’ decided to take on this difficult task—to try to reach the hearts of the convicts, to touch the strings of humanity and kindness in their souls, and to show them another, wonderful world—the world of classical music. I think that music will help those who have stumbled to recover.’

Reference: The ‘Slobozhansky’ Orchestra is the only professional collective of its kind. Brilliant musicians from all over Ukraine work here, a large part of whom are laureates of national and international competitions. In 1994, at the European International Festival in Copenhagen, ‘Slobozhansky’ was recognised as the ‘Best Youth Symphony Orchestra of Europe’, and in 2008 it received the ‘Academic’ title, thus becoming the only academic youth orchestra in the country.