Lower thirds:

0:03  Report by / Rebecca Ritters
1:03  Sofiia, Pianist, Metallophone
1:32  Ruslana, Percussionist
1:49  Dmytro Korniienko, Composer and electric guitarist
2:28  Serhii Neduzhyi, Harmonia Orchestra Conductor
3:29  Serhii Neduzhyi, Harmonia Orchestra Conductor

Script:

00:05
It starts on a calm summer’s evening.
 
A peaceful song interrupted by the wailing of an air raid siren. 
 
Shortly after, comes the Shahed drone … as it flies overhead. 
 
Then a flurry of air defense as it’s shot out of the sky.

00:18
+++UPSOT Serhii Neduzhyi
Like a heartbeat.

00:28
These are not merely sound effects. They’re the building blocks of a new composition called The Shahed Overture.
Brought to life by enthusiastic conductor Serhii Neduzhyi and his Harmonia youth orchestra outside Kyiv.
For these young musicians, the sounds they perform are the sounds of their own lives.
 
01:02
+++ Sofiia, Pianist, Metallophone 
I had goosebumps. It’s frightening - to convey everything we feel through music; our evenings, our daily life, what we feel – so people outside Ukraine can understand. And I think we succeeded.

01:25
The fear isn’t just something they imagine. It’s something they know all too well.

01:31
+++SOT Ruslana, Percussionist 
It’s not a good sound. Not a pleasant melody you’d want to play, but it’s reality, we can’t escape it. We play what we hear.

01:43
The idea for the piece came naturally to composer Dmytro Korniienko. 

01:48
+++SOT Dmytro Korniienko, Composer and electric guitarist 
Since 2022, we hear shelling almost every night. This piece is a musical reflection of our reality – of what we live through everyday.

02:00
For him, this music isn’t only about the present.
 
02:03
+++SOT Dmytro Korniienko, Composer and electric guitarist 
I think many will want to forget. But we must preserve it in people’s memory, so that when it ends, it doesn’t start again.

02:18
For this orchestra, memory isn’t a choice. It’s a responsibility.
Looking backward to remember but also forward to imagine something better.

02:27
+++SOT Serhii Neduzhyi, Harmonia Orchestra Conductor
Optimism comes from expecting something good. Of course, there isn’t much good for us at the moment, except for the orchestra. We can sit and cry and do nothing, or believe in a better future and find strength to reach it.

2:52 - 2:56
+++ATMO - Orchestra

02:56
+++SOT Serhii Neduzhyi, Harmonia Orchestra Conductor
Music carries emotion. We often arrive tired, but when we play, we switch into the emotion of the music - and that emotion affects us. Good music makes us feel better. I am 100% sure that music is the driving force that will enable us to survive now, and even recover after the war.

03:24
And it's in that vein that the rehearsal continues.

+++MUSIC UP

03:28
+++SOT Serhii Neduzhyi, Harmonia Orchestra Conductor
Now we are playing "Wind of Change," and hoping for changes — for us and for the world.
 
03:46
A world where the only sound of drones comes from a youth orchestra outside Kyiv. 
 
LW: 3:52 + LONG MUSICAL OUTRO "Wind of Change"