Songs For Ukraine

07/05/2026

When the magic of the concert happens, the audience can observe so many faces of the choir. Yet one face, a very important one, is hidden from them. And while the audience can only watch the flight of hands, the choristers will see all its subtle expressions that set the mood of the evening.

A choir exists when the invisible bond between the conductor and the singers is strong, when they share a common vision that brings them all together. At least, this is how we know it at Songs for Ukraine. When we sing together, our voices become a single, powerful voice. And to bring them all together is a challenge but also a great joy!

Songs for Ukraine is blessed to be guided on its journey by a true believer who has faith in us and in the power of Ukrainian music - our own conductor, Bohdan Parashchak. And today we would like to celebrate his guidance and his birthday.

Dear Bohdan, we are grateful for your passion for Ukrainian music and your open-mindedness. We thank you for seeing far into the future and believing in us. We wish you always to be inspired and to inspire others, to believe and to help us all believe in ourselves.

Mnohaia Lita to you!

With love and gratitude,
Songs for Ukraine

Let us embark on new musical journeys together!

Bohdan Parashchak

Photos from our recent concert Let there by light
Andras Stefuca
ennis

05/05/2026

Oleksii Zasiadko is a Ukrainian bass-baritone. He has been a soloist with the Songs for Ukraine Chorus since its inaugural concert in 2023.
In December 2025, together with the other choristers of the Songs for Ukraine, he took part in The King’s Annual Christmas Day Broadcast from the historic Westminster Abbey and performed Carol of the Bells, an internationally known and beloved carol, based on the traditional Ukrainian folk song Shchedryk by Mykola Leontovych. This special collaboration brought together members of the Songs for Ukraine Chorus, the Royal Opera Chorus, military musicians, and the Royal Harpist.
At the recent Let There Be Light concert, Oleksii performed the aria “Hey, the Eagle Soars” from the popular Ukrainian opera Taras Bulba by Mykola Lysenko — a central figure in Ukrainian national music, known for combining ethnographic research with compositional craft.
Oleksii is a graduate of the Odesa National Music Academy (Ukraine) and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (UK), and he continues to develop an independent musical career in the United Kingdom.
He has toured the UK and Ireland with the Ellen Kent Opera Company, appearing in productions of Carmen, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. His recent operatic roles include Tom in Un Ballo in Maschera (Brent Opera), Betto in Gianni Schicchi (St Albans Chamber Opera), and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (Opera Greenwich).
He also premiered Kevin Rodgers’ The Murderous Delusions of Gavrilo K at the Tête à Tête Festival and has performed major concert works across the UK.

In this video:
Let There Be Light Concert
“Hey the Eagle Soars” aria from Taras Bulba opera by Mykola Lysenko
Accompanied by Bohdan Parashchak

01/05/2026

29/04/2026

28/04/2026

“Let There Be Light”
Songs for Ukraine Chorus
Conducted by Bohdan Parashchak

Songs for Ukraine presented two works by Victoria Vita Poleva from the choral symphony “Luminous Canticles” on canonical liturgical texts.

1. “Troparion to the Cross”, Victoria Vita Poleva, excerpt
2. “Trisagion”, Victoria Vita Poleva, excerpt

Victoria Vita Poleva is a contemporary Ukrainian composer and is one of the most distinctive voices in Ukrainian music today.

Victoria Vita Poleva
Bohdan Parashchak

25/04/2026

Last night Songs for Ukraine presented its new programme of Ukrainian sacred music weaving the classical and the contemporary into the fabric of this special evening of reflection and memory.

The three-month intensive rehearsals under artistic leadership by Bohdan Parashchak culminated in the premiere of the Requiem by the Ukrainian composer Kyrylo Stetsenko, one of the key figures of his time, written in memory of his teacher and mentor Mykola Lysenko.

The Chorus has also performed two compositions by the contemporary Ukrainian composer Victoria Vita Poleva, who remains in Ukraine and continues to create new sacred music as her personal response to the ongoing war. Victoria Vita Poleva

A long-term supporter of Ukraine and a friend of Songs for Ukraine, Thomas Ang enchanted the audience with his rendition of Mykola Lysenko’s Rhapsody on Ukrainian Folk Themes.

Our talented soloist, Ukrainian bass-baritone Oleksii Zasiadko, also performed another work by Lysenko - an excerpt his Opera Taras Bulba. Oleksií Zasiadko

The audience could also discover a beautiful example of Ukrainian baroque music by Dmytro Bortniansky. It was a great joy for the choir to sing this vivacious piece offering a glimpse of the rich Ukrainian music legacy.

Chorus’s singing that night was flowing as a single thread connecting past and present through music that shines through the darkest of times and brings light to the souls.

The Choir is grateful to its long-term partners: Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain - London Branch, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London and Farm Street Church for the opportunity to rehearse and perform.

We would also like to thank Ukraine Charity for partnering with us once again in support of this important cause - raising funds for Місто Добра - City of Goodness in Ukraine.

We thank out information partners Ukrainian Institute London and Embassy of Ukraine to the UK.

Last but not least, we want to thank our audience who remain loyal and join us at our concerts, and also welcome those who have just discovered Songs for Ukraine Chorus and Ukrainian music for themselves. Stay tuned for our new performances!

Photos by Andras Stefuca

22/04/2026

Songs for Ukraine supports Ukrainian artists through its music concerts and brings their art to our audience in the UK.

“I painted the Angel of ZSU on a black A4 sheet of paper in March 2022. Thanks to that Angel, I came back home in August.” ZSU stands for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whom Ukrainians call their guardian angels. In June 2023, Matvii Vaisberg’s Angel became part of a mural at the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial.

Matvii Vaisberg is known for his expressive style rooted in history and spiritual themes. Since the full-scale invasion, he has created his “war diary” series, depicting bombed cities, human suffering, and biblical imagery reimagined through the lens of the war in Ukraine. Матвей Вайсберг

For our Christmas concert, Kateryna Kyslytska, an Odesa-born, UK-based artist and illustrator, created a concert poster in her signature watercolour technique and the choir came alive on her canvas. Her work is rooted in Ukrainian floral motifs, folk patterns, and traditional symbols. Kateryna Kyslitska

For the April concert, we invited Ganna Kryvolap, a Ukrainian artist working in a contemporary expressionist style. She is known for her lyrical paintings that explore landscape, memory, and emotional states. The painting is from her series “Horizons. Kyiv.”

“These paintings are about the breath of homeland. About a gaze that carries both stillness and the weight of history. Here, Kyiv is not a city, but a memory - roots, a stillness that holds you. The blend of colours echoes time itself, like a touch of the sky holding all the memories we have carried through our history, and the memory of our victory.”
We invite our guests to keep the concert programs as mementos of the music, artists, and artworks.

Ticket link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/let-there-be-light-tickets-1984968430008?aff=oddtdtcreator

20/04/2026

24 April, Friday
19:30
Songs for Ukraine new concert
Let There Be Light

Thank you to our information partner Ukrainian Institute London

Songs for Ukraine presents its new concert, “Let There Be Light,” which will take place on Friday, 24 April 2026 at 7:30 p.m. at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mayfair, London.

Tickets: eventbrite.co.uk/e/let-there-be-light-tickets-1984968430008

This special evening will feature the UK premiere of the Requiem by the renowned Ukrainian composer Kyrylo Stetsenko, as well as the Ukrainian sacred music by Dmytro Bortniansky, Mykola Lysenko and Mykhailo Shukh. The choir will also perform selected works by the modern Ukrainian composer Victoria Vita Poleva, who continues to live in Ukraine after the full-scale invasion. Her works have become her personal response to the ongoing war.

Founded in 2023 in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Songs For Ukraine is a platform that uses music diplomacy to support Ukraine in its fight for justice.The choir unites singers from across the Ukrainian community, many of whom have been displaced by the war, and its friends.
A share of the proceeds from all our concert goes to support Misto Dobra, the largest shelter in Ukraine for vulnerable women and children.

19/04/2026

🎹 We are delighted to develop partnerships with talented artists who enjoy and appreciate Ukrainian music as much as we do.

Thomas Ang, a virtuoso pianist, composer and arranger, will be the guest soloist at our upcoming concert on 24 April 2026. He will perform Rhapsody on Ukrainian Themes by Mykola Lysenko, a great Ukrainian classical composer.

🎹 From Thomas’ bio:
Thomas works as a répétiteur for the Royal Ballet and Opera. He considers teaching and coaching to be important parts of his musical personality, and counts opera as another part of his foundation. He also accompanies and improvises for silent film.

🎹 Thomas commented on his choice and why he likes the Ukrainian music: “I actually started playing Ukrainian music as early as 2007, with Nikolai Kapustin, whose music I would go on to premiere for many years after getting to correspond with him from 2013. I also started researching and looking up composers from Eastern European and Balkan cultures, finding Lysenko's role as national composer and a lot more music from others as well. I love the colours and the different ways composers had to come to terms with their own position between "major" cultures of Germanic and Russian influence, how they chose different approaches to say "this is my style", with varying amounts of folkish flavour. Lysenko's music is very beautiful to me in the way of searching and finding a successful balance between country and cosmopolitan, folk and classical "languages", which is also something I must do as someone from a minority that is caught between many cultural and historical influences. The Rhapsody naturally resonated with me, as I grew up on a steady diet of Liszt - Lysenko uses his own pianistic skills to write something difficult and virtuosic, but that physical challenge never obscures the Ukrainian spirit in his music and indeed supports it and brings it to greater heights.”

https://youtu.be/Ew4Bc1ZTW0s?si=OLg6jpNt_8hsFpuf

📍 2️⃣4️⃣April 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣
Farm Street Church in Mayfair, London

Friday, at 7️⃣:3️⃣0️⃣pm

🎟 Tickets available now — we would be honoured to welcome you.
👇👇👇👇
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/let-there-be-light-tickets-1984968430008?aff=oddtdtcreator

Місто Добра - City of Goodness Ukraine Charity Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain - London Branch fans Iryna Estevez Embassy of Ukraine to the UK TopFan The Choir Project Yuliya Parashchenyuk Iryna Orys'a Marciuk Едері ЕМ Менеджемент Svitlana Opanasenko Iryna Zeldes Le Broussois Elise Webster

11 likes, 3 comments. "Lysenko: Second Concert Polonaise, Op. 7"

15/04/2026

Songs for Ukraine invites you to its first concert this year on Friday, 24 April.

Among the sea of beautiful music, we shall bring to you Ukrainian sacred music and give voice to the talented Ukrainian composers, as we reclaim and rediscover our own musical heritage.

The program covers both classical and contemporary music.

The UK premiere of the Requiem by Kyrylo Stetsenko
Ukrainian Baroque music by Dmytro Bortniansky, Concerto No. 31
Sacred minimalism by Victoria Vita Poleva, Trisagion and Troparion to the Cross
Silent Prayer by Mykhailo Shukh

Enjoy the beautiful music and support Ukraine!

Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/let-there-be-light-tickets-1984968430008?aff=oddtdtcreator


Bohdan Parashchak Victoria Vita Poleva