Southbank to stage fundraiser for Ukraine

A specially curated night of music, poetry and spoken word will be staged at the Southbank Centre, with a line-up that includes Ukrainian and British artists performing in person and via live link-up from Ukraine.

All net proceeds and all further funds raised on the evening, March 22, will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC’s) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Slava Ukraini is organised in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute in London and supported by the British Council.

Slava Ukraini features a line-up of Ukrainian and British classical and contemporary musicians.

Performers include Kyiv-born Yuriy Yurchuk who performed the role of Marcello in Puccini’s La Boheme last summer at the Royal Opera House and Kharviv-born pianist Dinara Klinton who has performed previously at the Royal Festival Hall, the Wigmore Hall and Berliner Philharmonie and Konzerthaus.

Further Ukrainian names include current member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Company mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nikolaieva, Karaviotis Prize-winning mezzo-soprano Rozanna Madylus and Rivne-born clarinettist Stefan Bulyha who currently studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

The London Contemporary Orchestra will also perform live in-person on the night.

Ukrainian writers on the Slava Ukraini line-up include historian Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, author and writer of bestseller Death and the Penguin Andrey Kurkov and poet, writer and essayist Serhiy Zhadan.

The night will also include readings by Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning actor Ben Whishaw, Tony Award-winning actor Jonathan Pryce and Olivier Award-winning actress Juliet Stevenson.

They will read poetry by Odessa-born Ilya Kaminsky, best known for his poetry collections Dancing in Odessa and Deaf Republic, screenwriter and playwright Lyuba Yakimchuk and poet, essayist and translator Ostap Slyvynsky.

Further line-up announcements will be made over the coming week. The experiences of refugees from across the world will be explored in the programme for the Southbank Centre’s forthcoming contribution to Refugee Week in June, which will include a mix of outdoor stage, comedy, music and conversation.

The Southbank Centre is delighted to be joining with other leading arts venues and organisations to support the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC’s) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal through this event. DEC brings together the UK’s leading aid charities to respond to humanitarian crises.

13 of DEC’s member charities are working directly, or through their local partners, on the ground in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries to help refugees fleeing the conflict. Donations can be made to the Appeal directly at www.dec.org.uk.

Mark Ball, the Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director, added, “I’d like to thank all of the participating artists, the Ukrainian Institute in London and the British Council for their time and willingness to support the DEC’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

We hope this event can make a difference to help people in Ukraine and those seeking sanctuary across its borders, and that it reminds us too of our responsibilities to refugees and displaced peoples from across the world.”