COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) 鈥� From a dank to the bright stage lights of Europe's theaters, a Ukrainian youth choir's hymns in praise of freedom offer a kind of healing balm to its war-scarred members.
The Shchedryk ensemble, described as Kyiv鈥檚 oldest professional children鈥檚 choir, were in the Danish capital this week for a performance as part of an international tour that also took them to New York鈥檚 famed Carnegie Hall.
It was supposed to be part of a busy year to celebrate the choir's 50th anniversary. But Russia's changed all that, with members scattering inside their homeland and abroad in search of safety. Some members say they have lost friends and family in the fighting.
鈥淚t is very difficult to gather the children,鈥� said Marianna Sablina, the choir鈥檚 artistic director and chief conductor, whose mother founded the choir in 1971. Some of the members are "outside the borders of Ukraine, and only about a third of the forum currently lives in Kyiv.鈥�
Earlier this year, the choir managed to reassemble and began rehearsing in Kyiv鈥檚 National Palace of Arts.
often plagued the rehearsals. When Kyiv came under bombardment and suffered power outages, air raid sirens forced the choir to assemble in a darkened bomb shelter, illuminating their sheet music with whatever light source they could find.
鈥淲hen there are sirens, we go to the shelter and just sing with our phones and flashlights,鈥� said 15-year-old choir member Anastasiia Rusina, whose family fled to western Ukraine following the invasion.
鈥淚 think that we鈥檙e kind of getting used to it because it鈥檚 our job to do. We have a concert, so we just cannot skip any rehearsals,鈥� she said.
The audience at Copenhagen鈥檚 Church of The Holy Ghost recently listened to the soaring voices of the choir, made up mostly teenage girls wearing black and white dresses accentuated by red and black squares on their sleeves and colorful beads around their necks.
鈥淚 sincerely hope that the concert here will send a message of love and hope and also sympathy and support to all Ukrainian families,鈥� said Nataliya Popovych, co-founder of Copenhagen鈥檚 Ukraine House, a civil society organization which brought the group to Denmark. 鈥淗opefully next year, all Ukrainian families will be able to celebrate Christmas properly,鈥� she added.
At the core of the performance was the song 鈥淐arol of the Bells,鈥� perhaps best known from the 1990 Christmas movie 鈥楬ome Alone鈥�.
The carol was originally arranged by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in the early 1900s. The choir鈥檚 name, 鈥淪hchedryk,鈥� comes from the song鈥檚 Ukrainian title.
鈥淲e have to send to people that our culture is so important to our world,鈥� Polina Holtseva, another said 15-year-old choir member, whose family has stayed in Kyiv throughout the conflict.
鈥淚t鈥檚 our culture, it鈥檚 our songs, and it鈥檚 so amazing that we have a chance to give you this music,鈥� she said.
Choir members Rusina and Holtseva said they don鈥檛 have any concrete career plans. They noted they don't don鈥檛 even know what they're going to do tomorrow. But amid the horrors of war, Shchedryk choir has become their 鈥渟afe place.鈥�
鈥淲e just don鈥檛 think about the war or our situation. We just sing, we鈥檙e together with our friends, our family,鈥� Rusina said.
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James Brooks, The Associated Press
