Ukraine Philharmonic rides out the riots

Photo: Roman Pilipey/EPA

Rioting, especially in a capital city, is bad for everybody. The economic impact of three months of civil strife in Ukraine is still uncalculated, though the best guesses for property damage around the afflicted areas stand at a conservative $2m – positively pallid against the estimated £1bn ($1.7bn) clear-up cost of the recent flooding in the UK. No doubt alarming figures of cash lost in Kiev by diminished tourism, depleted work forces and startled markets will emerge soon enough; and this in a country only this week downgraded to CCC credit rating – a hop and a skip from default.

The domes of Kiev

The economic woes are all very worrying, but what about the cultural impact? Kiev is one of the oldest and most populous cities in Europe. Famed for its wealth and beauty, Russians and Poles fought over it for centuries. Kiev’s many museums hold some of the most precious examples of Eurasian art and artefacts in the world; disturbing stories abound of recent museum looting by public and police alike. The National Philharmonic of Ukraine was founded in 1863, as a Kievan offshoot of the Imperial Russian Musical Society, and its history is a turbulent tale. In the first decades of the 20^th century, Ukraine saw world war, civil war and frequent internal power struggles, but the music of Debussy, Saint-Saëns and others continued to breathe life into the culture capital of Eastern Europe, through the determined work of the Ukraine Philharmonic. WWII hit Ukraine in 1941: the Philharmonic closed down and precious archives went up in smoke. The beautiful building was converted to a German officers’ club – its salvation; the surrounding buildings were razed. With the Russian liberation, the Philharmonic rose from the ashes and played a crucial role in retaining a little Ukrainian cultural identity, under the shadow of soviet territorialism. In the 80s, the basement flooded, ruining its priceless library. The musicians played on.

National Philharmonic of Ukraine

The recent riots in Kiev have hit the Ukraine Philharmonic hard. A cursory glance their Facebook page (and a quick copy-and-paste into Google translate) reveals a total of nine cancelled concerts from 18/02/14 to 09/03/14, and three concerts postponed. This amounts to most of a season, and will cost the institution tens of thousands of dollars. St David’s Hall in Cardiff, UK, receives an annual subsidy of £1.2m ($2m), the imminent withdrawal of which might, disastrously, be its demise. Certainly it would be difficult for the Duma in Kiev to justify a comparable subsidy when it faces such dire economic and political circumstances.

The best hope for Ukrainian music to continue in its rich vein is a resultant cultural reactionism. For a nation familiar with regular and abrupt social and political upheavals, culture provides a crucial sense of national identity and continuity. The people of Kiev should realise this and fight for their artistic survival. If history is anything to go by, they’ll probably succeed.

Peter L. Wagstaff