Kharkiv Music Fest opens in Kharkiv Metro

Despite continuous shelling, the traditional classical music festival, Kharkiv Music Fest, has opened in the city of Kharkiv. Musicians were performing in Kharkiv Metro, which is now used as a bomb shelter by thousands of local residents.

The relevant statement was made by Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Head Oleh Syniehubov on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“We have been living under continuous shelling by Russian occupiers for a month so far. Despite this, we have not lost faith. Today’s symbolic KharkivMusicFest is another proof of that. We thank the organizers for bringing Kharkiv residents back to normal life with relatives, smiles and art, at least for a few hours. Music will definitely be played in unconquered Kharkiv again,” Syniehubov wrote.

According to the organizers, ‘Concert amid Explosions’ in Kharkiv Metro became a symbolic opening of the festival. The string quintet program included classical masterpieces by Bach, Schubert, Dvořák, Skoryk, as well as the arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs, which were written for this concert by Volodymyr Bohatyriov, a young Kharkiv composer and conductor.

A reminder that about 15,000 people have to shelter in Kharkiv Metro, as Russian troops are continuously shelling the city.

mk