The internationally renowned violinist Daniel Hope, whose hometown is Berlin, gave a peace and benefit concert on March 11, 2022 in the Berlin Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche in aid of the “Nothilfe Ukraine” of the “Aktion Deutschland Hilft”. He was accompanied by the Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov. Between the pieces of music, actor Sebastian Koch recited texts by Erich Fried, Ror Wolf and others. The patron of the evening was Joachim Gauck, former Federal President, who gave a speech at the start of the event.
The musical program included works by the Ukrainian composers Valentin Silvestrov and Myroslaw Skoryk as well as selected pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven and Frédéric Chopin, among others. Particularly moving: the composer Valentin Silvestrov was personally present at the concert! Just a few days earlier, the 84-year-old had fled from Kyiv to Germany on foot. Silvestrov addressed the audience in a poignant speech. He then sat down at the piano to spontaneously play a melody that came to his mind while fleeing Ukraine.
At the end of the evening, Ulrike Trautwein, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche Foundation, spoke a prayer for peace in Ukraine.
A big thank you goes to everyone who made this concert possible and of course to the audience in the church. The proceeds from the tickets go entirely to emergency aid. In addition to that C. Bechstein transfers a further 200,000 Euros to “Aktion Deutschland Hilft”.
(pictures above: Valentin Silvestrov, Daniel Hope, Alexey Botvinov f.l.t.r.)
