Sunlight was streaming through the glorious stained glassed windows in the Church of St Thomas the Martyr in Winchelsea, last Sunday afternoon. First time visitors from all over the UK and from Europe physically gasped in wonder when they entered this glorious church to attend Ukraine Reborn.
And what followed was truly a concert to remember. Every detail had been organised with meticulous care by Ann Rachlin MBE now approaching her 90th birthday. Before coming to live in this area, she gained her expertise in London as the Founder and Chairman of The Beethoven Fund for Deaf Children (www.thebeethoven-fund.org) raising thousands of pounds to help hearing-impaired children learn to speak through music speech therapy. Some of the world’s greatest musicians and actors gave their services to help her: André Prèvin, Sir Georg Solti, Lorin Maazel, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Peter Ustinov, Alec Guinness – the list is endless. So it was no surprise that, faced with a concert in Winchelsea, she looked to the most celebrated musicians to perform, in aid of the severely injured children of Ukraine, all of whom are being transferred to the St Nicholas Hospital for Children in Lviv because the hospitals in their home area have been demolished by Russian missiles.
On Sunday afternoon, Ann welcomed the internationally celebrated cellist, Raphael Wallfisch and the pianist John York to perform a carefully chosen programme of music by Beethoven, Bloch, Messaien and two famous composers born in Ukraine, Prokofiev and Glière.
But Ann knew that she needed to have words to add essential spoken meaning to help the audience fully understand why they were there and what being Ukrainian at this tragic time in their country, is really like. She researched and found wonderful poems, written in the 19th century by Ukrainian’s foremost poets Taras Levchenko and Lesya Ukrainka. Coupled with two commissioned poems by local poet Harvey Gillman and Resistance by Simon Armitage, our Poet Laureate, these words were gently interspersed between the music, magically performed by Emilia Fox and Freddie Fox, superb actors of today. Young and beautiful, they added a glow to the concert. They had both been star pupils of Ann’s famous Fun with Music sessions in London where they started aged three and then, finishing the course of three years, they and their parents Edward Fox and Joanna David Fox, remained friends over the decades. The reunion on Sunday was a delight to witness.
Seated in the audience was Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, Eparchial Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London, a charismatic figure, born in Canada to Ukrainian immigrants, who had just returned from his second visit to Ukraine. He spoke eloquently at the private after-concert reception in the New Hall which was tastefully decorated in Ukrainian colours with flags and flowers.
Ann has already received accolades both verbal and written: “A magnificent concert”, “Moving superb performances” and one eminent resident who told her “One of the best concerts we have ever had – no, that’s wrong, THE best concert we have ever had.”
In these difficult financial times, where every pound counts, Ann is truly overwhelmed by the generosity of her family, friends far and wide and most of all, the generous local community. She approached two sponsors who readily agreed to cover all the expenses of the concert itself and also the reception that followed so that all the ticket money (generously collected by Winchelsea Arts, the colourful organisation that provides so many musical highlights in Winchelsea) and all the donations on line and in person, enabled her to surpass her target of £15,000 and at time of writing are just about to reach £17,000 to help provide equipment for those innocent little ones who now, physically and mentally, have to re-structure their broken lives.
Ann wants to thank all the people of Winchelsea and Rye who responded so willingly and generously to help her reach her goal – enough money to make a difference to the medical treatments so badly needed by the children of Ukraine. Ann’s JustGiving page remains open for a few more months. All donations however small are appreciated.
Image Credits: Kt bruce .
Super concert and such deserved Admiration to Ann who planned it to perfection and the artists whose performance was so moving.