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The world recently observed the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Classic 107’s Album of the Month for March celebrates the resilience and strength of the Ukrainian people and culture.
Unbroken: Music from Ukraine is the latest album from Edmonton violinist Viktoria Grynenko. An active performer and teacher working in a variety of genres, Grynenko has always strived to perform music from her homeland of Ukraine, which she left in 2011.
“The initial motivation for this album was my reaction to the full-scale war in Ukraine,” Grynenko shares in the liner notes for the new album, distributed through Leaf Music. “I have ‘lived’ all the events of the Revolution of Dignity, annexation of Crimea, war in the East of Ukraine, and finally on February 24, 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is a special kind of helplessness one feels when watching one’s homeland steeped in bloodshed.”
“At this time of war, when Ukrainian cultural artefacts are being physically destroyed, the only meaningful action I felt I could take as a musician was to amplify Ukrainian voices for audiences around the world.”
The voices that Grynenko amplifies on her new record are all living composers, each still channeling the spirit of Ukraine through their works, including Valentin Silvestrov, Oleg Bezborodko, Boris Loginov, and Zoltan Almashi. The album also features a work called “Through Closed Doors” by a fellow Ukrainian ex-pat living in Canada, Anna Pidgorna.
“For me, all the works on this album are about resilience and the generosity of the Ukrainian spirit,” says Grynenko in her album notes. “Pidgorna’s creative visual score is inspired by a jagged hole in a door, mirroring the physical wound all Ukrainians carry in their hearts.”
Throughout the month of March, Classic 107 listeners can hear excerpts from Viktoria Grynenko’s Unbroken: Music from Ukraine every Wednesday morning on Morning Light with Nolan Kehler shortly after 7:30 a.m.