When the Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, 55, saw the war pictures from Ukraine in New York, she was initially shocked.

Then she had a "fantasy": an orchestra of fleeing, expelled musicians.

The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, UFO for short, had landed in the music world.

In July and August it tours Europe, including Germany (August 1st in Munich, August 4th in Berlin and August 13th in Hamburg).

Mrs. Wilson, how do you manage to make a completely new orchestra sound?

The first sample was rough.

The musicians, who have never played together before, had to find their bearings first.

After just a few days it was clear that this would be fantastic.

The rehearsal period in Warsaw was very intense, ten days, six hours a day.

An atmosphere like in a boot camp (

laughs

).

We rehearsed with the individual sections separately, sometimes just strings, sometimes just brass or woodwind.

Existing professional orchestras don't do it that intensively.

This orchestra has a determination and willpower, a physical strength that I have not experienced before.

You yourself have Ukrainian roots, your great-grandparents emigrated from Czernowitz to Winnipeg in Canada around 1900.

How much does the common origin unite artistically in times of war?

It often happens that the chemistry between a guest conductor and an orchestra is not right.

It's completely different here.

On the evening before the first rehearsal there was a get-together with the musicians.

I gave a short speech, saying how proud I am that we have gathered here, that we too are a symbol of the whole country's ability to defend itself.

With the orchestra we can show that Putin is wrong when he says that there is no such thing as a Ukrainian culture.

Our cultural heritage is far too vast and diverse to be silenced.

How much is your family directly affected by the war?

My great-grandfather had nine sisters, so I have many cousins ​​who still live in Ukraine.

Two of them are directly involved in the fighting.

My cousin Andrei is fighting in the Donbass.

He is a journalist and painter, but has been in the army since 2014, he could not bear that his homeland was simply being attacked.

Cousin Nadja has volunteered for the replenishment.

Originally a teacher, she now works in a warehouse, sewing combat uniforms for the troops and transporting equipment to the front in large trucks.

Nadja asked me if I could support them, so I provide them with things they don't have themselves.

From New York I organized three shipments of camouflage gloves and boots and night vision goggles that I was able to get through a contact.

What do they think of your peace orchestra in view of the daily suffering and the daily danger they are exposed to?

Naive or important?

The longer it lasts, the more demoralizing it is for soldiers on the front lines.

Andrei said to me recently, your weapons are your instruments, fight for us, we need it for our morale.

That touched me very much.

This orchestra represents the diversity of Ukrainian culture, we are proof: it exists!

You don't have to be able to speak Ukrainian for this, because our suffering and our longing can be felt through the music for everyone.

When we can shake audiences awake on tour, that shows our power.

We remind the world not to forget us, even if the war is still long.

When the war broke out, you said you felt guilty.

In what way?

Because I have the freedom to live in a safe, democratic country.

I can make music, I can go to work.

Nadja and Andrei have to hide in cellars, fearing for their lives, their voices for freedom and democracy have been silenced.

That contrast is terrible.

Just playing the Ukrainian national anthem wasn't enough for me, I had to act.

The orchestra is the answer to my guilt.