Ukrainian music at the Estonia Concert Hall: Estonian Military Orchestra conducted by Liubomyr Sukennyk

On 8 October, at the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn, the Estonian Military Orchestra (Eesti Sõjaväeorkester) celebrated 108 years of Estonian military music. The concert was conducted by Ukrainian Liubomyr Sukennyk, head of the Military Music Centre of the Ukrainian Navy based in Odesa.

The large professional wind orchestra performed works by Lev Kolodub, Dmytro Bortniansky, Mykola Lysenko and Oleksandr Kabachenko, Carpathian melodies and other Ukrainian themes. For the Ukrainians in the hall, the most moving moment was “Shrine of the Fallen” by American composer Brian Balmages, dedicated to those killed during the Revolution of Dignity: woven into its solemn sound is the melody of “Plyve kacha”, a song that has become a symbol of remembrance for the Heavenly Hundred and fallen defenders.

A group of Ukrainians from Estonia attended the concert, among them Inna Hordiienko, representing the Association of Ukrainian Organisations in Estonia and the drUzi media. She thanked Meelis Kubits, thanks to whom Ukrainian music is regularly heard at Estonia’s leading venues: the Odessa Classics festival, which continued in Tallinn after the start of the full-scale invasion, and this spring’s concerts by Ukrainian Navy musicians from Odesa, pianist Diana Hultsova and violinist Sofiia Osadcha. In 2024, with his support, the Ukrainian Film Club in Estonia and Kultuuripartnerlus SA screened Serhii Bukovskyi’s documentary “Silvestrov” at Kino Sõprus ahead of Valentin Silvestrov’s concert in Tallinn.

Inna Hordiienko also recalled a tradition kept at the Estonia Concert Hall since the start of russia’s full-scale invasion: before every concert the national anthem of Ukraine is played and the audience rises. For more than four years this gesture of solidarity has reminded everyone that Ukraine is not alone.

The Association thanks the Estonian musicians, the organisers and Liubomyr Sukennyk for an evening when Ukrainian music sounded with dignity and strength in the heart of Tallinn.

Source and photo: Inna Hordiienko’s post on Facebook (profile).