Taiwan, Poland to hold concert for Ukraine

Taipei, April 10 (CNA) Taiwan and Poland will jointly hold a benefit concert for Ukraine on April 17 at the National Concert Hall in Taipei.

Tickets for the "Pray for Ukraine -- Solidarity with Ukraine" charity concert are on sale now, according to a Facebook post by the Polish Office in Taipei on April 8.

After deducting expenses, all proceeds from the concert will fund relief work to help Ukrainian refugees, through donations made by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), according to the Polish office.

The office initiated the idea of the concert, organized by the Taipei Philharmonic Foundation for Culture and Education and directed by Taiwan's MOFA and Ministry of Culture, according to the post.

The concert will feature performances by Taiwan-based Polish pianist Kamil Tokarski, Taiwanese American violinist Leta Chin (金昫祈), Taiwanese soprano Lin Ling-hui (林玲慧), baritone Chen Han-wei (陳翰威), and conducted by Wu Yao-yu (吳曜宇), currently associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra.

The repertoire includes Prelude op.33 no.1 by Sergei Bortkiewicz, a Ukrainian-born composer and pianist of Polish ancestry, who was born in Kharkiv in 1877 into a Polish noble family.

Bortkiewicz studied in St. Petersburg and Leipzig and lived in Berlin, but during World War I he was forced to leave Germany and return to Kharkiv, the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine. During the Russian Revolution, he fled to Istanbul as a refugee. Eventually, he returned to Berlin and then to Vienna in 1922 where he spent the rest of his life.

The concert will also feature the performance of A Prayer for Ukraine, a patriotic Ukrainian hymn, composed by Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko and published in 1885.

Lysenko, widely known today as "the father of Ukrainian music," was born in Hrynky in 1842. He was the founder of the national movement in Ukrainian music, based on a specific Ukrainian cultural tradition and the originality of its folk music.

The Polish office said in the Facebook post that since the Russian military invaded Ukraine at dawn on Feb. 24, more than 4 million Ukrainians have fled their home country over the past month. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people still need assistance and protection inside Ukraine.

"In this difficult time of life and death, we should stand up to help Ukrainians," it said.

In addition to cheering for Ukraine and remembering the war dead through music, the concert aims to bring people from all walks of life together to help Ukrainians through practical action, according to the Facebook post.