'Music gives us hope': Ukrainian couple from Vernon perform with Okanagan symphony
Ukrainian-Canadian Alex Wedensky says his solo performance tonight with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra is a huge honour for him as a baritone singer. "As an amateur singer you don't go any bigger than this," Wedensky told iNFOnews.ca. And while the Vernon resident is no doubt a...
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Ukrainian-Canadian Alex Wedensky says his solo performance tonight with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra is a huge honour for him as a baritone singer.
"As an amateur singer you don't go any bigger than this," Wedensky told iNFOnews.ca.
And while the Vernon resident is no doubt a little nervous, he's more concerned he might start crying.
As Wedensky and his wife, Natalia Polchenko, both take to the stage tonight, March 4, in Kelowna to sing as part of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra's performance The Sacred and Profane, their families in Ukraine huddle in bomb shelters as Russian forces shell Kyiv, the city Wedensky and Polchenko once called home.
Residents of Vernon for the last decade, both members of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra chorus and will be performing The Sacred and the Profane, for three nights. Along with tonight's performance in Kelowna, the concert will be held in Penticton, March 5, and Vernon, March 6.
Several days ago the orchestra's musical director Rosemary Thomson dedicated the performances to the people of Ukraine. She even got the musicians and singers to learn the Ukrainian national anthem which will be performed before each show.
"(That) was very touching (and) very appropriate for us because the main theme of the Requiem Mass is 'God grant them eternal peace and shine the eternal light upon them,'" Wedensky said. "That's the light and the hope and the peace is what this world needs right now more than ever."
Polchenko said the orchestra and the chorus did an amazing job learning the national anthem in just two days.
"When Rosemary (Thomson) decided to add the Ukrainian anthem, it became even more emotional and our (biggest) concerns actually is to hold up and not to start crying," Polchenko said.
In their homeland of Ukraine both their families face a precarious situation as bombs fall on their city.
"My brother is in the volunteer (army)... he's fighting, (and my) sister in law is trying to go to work every day, but she can't," Polchenko said. "All our relatives are spending lots of the time in bomb shelters, basements."
"People are dying right now on the ground, Russia is shelling Ukraine right now, they are raising the cities to the ground right now," Wedensky said.
Luckily they still have electricity, water, and the internet.
The couple is in constant contact with their families.
"They're holding up, they are stronger than us it seems," she said.
Polchenko's mother was supposed to fly to Canada the day before the Russians invaded. All flights were cancelled and she now remains in Ukraine "sheltering in place."
No member of their families has decided to try to leave the country.
"The roads are not what they are in the peacetime," Wedensky said. "Shelter in place is the best you can do."
Wedensky, who works as an anesthesiologist, and his wife are now in a constant state of worry.
"The day-to-day is difficult, it's on our minds constantly, the issue is very emotional, we are glued to the news feed from Ukraine, all our waking hours," he said.
In the meantime, the couple looks for peace and strength in music.
"Music is the language of god, making music or listening to music gives one hopes," Wedensky said. "Music is one of the best instruments to keep that hope alive."
They both say it's heartwarming the support that people around them and the world have shown for Ukraine.
"It's not going to get better until this is over, and Ukraine has won," Wedensky said.
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