Maria Stella Maurizi | Freya Apffelstaedt | Tomislav Jukic | Lobel Barun | Ascona Festival Choir with the participation of Tenebrae Choir | Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine | Oksana Lyniv

The joint concert of the Ascona Choral Academy with the London Tenebrae Choir and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine is a powerful symbol of peaceful coexistence and a shining exclamation mark at the end of the 2026 festival and the first edition of the classicAscona Academy.

Ukraine's Oksana Lyniv founded the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (YsOU) in 2016 to support talented young musicians from all parts of the country. In times of war, this orchestra has developed into an international ambassador for Ukraine's cultural identity and has been thrilling audiences at concerts across Europe ever since. The Ukrainian composer Hanna Havrylets died in Kiev on February 27, 2022, just three days after the start of the Russian invasion, due to a lack of medical care.

The "Canticum", written for string orchestra, sounds like a wordless prayer, characterized by deep melancholy, but also by unshakeable inner strength. The genesis of Antonín Dvořák's "Stabat Mater" op. 58 is inextricably linked with the composer's heavy blows of fate: Dvořák lost three of his children while working on his "Stabat Mater".

In the midst of this painful time, Dvořák found a way to express his personal grief in the medieval sequence about the suffering of the Mother of God on the cross. Instead of lingering in despair, this deeply moving music leads from the sombre B minor to a hopeful finale, thus becoming a symbol of the power of faith and overcoming death.

A word about the fact that the singers of the Ascona Choral Academy are united here with Tenebrae and the orchestra; together as a symbol of peaceful coexistence and as a strong exclamation mark at the end of the festival and at the same time the conclusion of the first edition of the Ascona Choral Academy 2026.

Maria Stella Maurizi, soprano
Freya Apffelstaedt, alto
Tomislav Jukic, tenor
Lobel Barun, bass
classicAscona Festival Choir
[and participation of Tenebrae Choir]
(Nigel Short, rehearsal)
Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Oksana Lyniv, conductor

Hanna Havrylets (1958-2022)
"Canticum" for string orchestra

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
"Stabat Mater" for soloists, choir and orchestra op. 58


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