On 16 March, less than three weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Polish Institute in Brussels organised an event entitled “Solidarity with Ukraine” – a recital of Ukrainian and Polish songs performed by Olga Pasichnyk, soprano and Natalia Pasichnyk, piano. The programme of the concert included works by national composers of Ukraine: Mykola Lysenko, Kyrylo Stecenko, Yakiv Stepovyi, Viktor Kosenko, Valentin Sylvestrov and several songs by Frederic Chopin and Karol Szymanowski. As an encore, Natalia Pasichnyk and Nadar Plyska, a young violinist – son of Olga Pasichnyk performed Myroslav Skoryk’s Melody, the leitmotif of the war drama film “Vysoky pereval” (1982).

Olga Pasichnyk, a Polish singer of Ukrainian origin, won third prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium (2000) and is a highly regarded soprano on the international opera, oratorio and recital scene. In Belgium, she is known as an excellent interpreter of the vocal part of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Symphony No. 8 Lieder der Vergänglichkeit (Songs of Passage) during the inaugural concerts of the Josephine Charlotte Hall in Luxembourg (2005), as well as a wonderful interpreter of the role of Roxana in Karol Szymanowski’s opera King Roger (Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie / De Munt in 2011).

The two performers decided to donate all proceeds from the concert to humanitarian help for Ukraine.