INTRODUCTIONS: audience experience by Nicholas Gamota

Ukrainian Music Initiative

INTRODUCTIONS Sunday, June 1st at 4pm at First Parish in Lexington, MA

Audience member Nicholas Gamota writes:

Many people of Lexington and surrounding neighboring towns

came out to show their support for

war torn Ukraine at the

beautiful First Parish Church.

The performance was an emotional one

as each of the three performers have personal ties to Ukraine.

A highlight of the night occurred when one of the performers played a piece that

held an especially personal meaning to her -

she explained to the crowd how the beauty of the piece

(which she premiered two days after the full-scale Russian invasion started), was a stark contrast to when she learned

the horrors of the fighting in Ukraine.

She even experienced technical difficulties with the sheet music and therefore had to make the

performance-time decision to play the music from memory!

Which she did effortlessly,

making the moment that much more memorable.

A friendly reception followed the performance that

continued the conversation and

allowed crowd members to talk with the performers and

learn more about the Ukrainian fight for independence.