Fundraising Concert for Peace and Solidarity

On 7th of April 2022, the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation together with the Permanent Representation of Lithuania in Brussels, organized a peace and solidarity concert to raise funds in support to Ukraine and for actions aiming to support refugees from Ukraine in Belgium through the practice of the arts.

Florika Fink-Hooijer (Directorate General for the Environment) introduced the concert and the speakers of the evening which were: Kateryna Sinkevičienė, Marianne Poncelet (IYMF Executive Vice-President) and Ambassador Arnoldas Pranckevičius (Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the EU). Each said a word about the situation in Ukraine and how the world reacts to it.

Today the wound is immense in Ukraine and our heart bleeds in unison to see so much violence darken the lives of peoples who only dreamed of peace and freedom. We want to think that through music, which is the most refined expression of our civilizations, we will uplift hearts and souls and help relieve this infinite pain while preparing, thanks to all of you, a more serene future for deracinated children : hence, music is intrinsically neutral and a-political.

“There are wounds everywhere.

You have to know how to forget your own

and try to heal the universal wound.”

Yehudi Menuhin

As Marianne Poncelet explained in her speech for this concert:

Yehudi Menuhin’s father was from Gomel. His mother was from Crimea. His name means « the Jew of Peace ». All his life he fought for peace with courage, always advocating to give a voice to all cultures. He knew that music is the key to rebuild trust, even in devastated hearts. With this in mind, we wanted to offer you a special concert for peace and solidarity with the Ukrainian people who suffer hugely.

Arnoldas Pranckevicius concluded the event by saying:

“a significant transition from Myroslav Skoryk’s melancholic and profound ‘Melody’, which is considered Ukraine’s spiritual anthem, recalling the terrible war crimes in Ukraine and the great humanitarian tragedy, to Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’, which concludes the concert, symbolising the future, the hope for Ukrainians to live in a peaceful democratic Europe. I hope that we can respond to this wish of the Ukrainians, which they express with their hearts, and that this ‘Ode to Joy’ will one day unite us all in a united and peaceful Europe”.

we all #standupforukraine, for peace and solidarity

We all #StandUpForUkraine, for peace and solidarity.

Please consider joining the solidarity effort. The needs of the displaced are enormous and we all can help the refugees from Ukraine in Belgium through the practice of the arts!  Feel free to make your donations into the King Baudouin Foundation account through a simple scan of the QR code and an click:

Donations are to be made at the following account number at the King Baudouin Foundation:

IBAN BE10 0000 0000 0404  – BIC BPOTBEB1

Structured communication [compulsory] 623/3712/60034

Donations online: https://donate.kbs-frb.be/actions/FFO-IYMFUkraine

The funds that will be collected thanks to this concert will be used to create a choir made up of Ukrainian children in Brussels, directed by a choirmaster who will have the children sing together for the next months, with a view to then presenting the results of this work on stage. This initiative will be led by the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in collaboration with an association welcoming Ukrainian children in Belgium. In a second step, if the funds allow it, we plan to extend our action to primary schools welcoming Ukrainian children in Brussels.

On this special occasion, the talented musicians from the Brussels Chamber Orchestra Quintet were joined by violinists Olga Šroubková and Diana Tishchenko for the solo parts.