On August 18, London organist Ashley Valentine will perform in support of Ukraine at the Lviv Organ Hall. His recital will feature the entire spectrum of British organ music – from the 16th century to the present day. But this is not the only purpose of Ashley Valentine’s trip to Ukraine: together with the charity organization “Make it possible Ukraine”, he will teach music to Ukrainian children who lost their homes due to the war for a week.
Ashley Valentine is organist and director of music at St Giles Church in Camberwell, South London. He has been playing the organ since he was 12 years old. He holds diplomas from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, as well as from Trinity and Guildhall Schools. Ashley is an award-winning improviser who has toured the UK accompanying silent films and has written music for film and chamber ensembles. He is the organist of the band “Organoke”, which aims to make the organ more accessible and interesting to non-musicians. Has a diverse repertoire, performs works from Pachelbel to Ligeti.
At the concert in the Lviv Organ Hall, Ashley Valentine will perform music by British composers from the 16th century, from the music of Orlando Gibbons and Benjamin Kosin to the film music of Max Richter.
“I also included in the program the music of composers who wrote in difficult times, including during the war,” says the organist.
The concert will feature a piece by John Ireland, who during the First World War wrote music to collect aid for the military, and during the Second World War he miraculously escaped Nazi occupation. “Song of May” by the Belgian Josef Jongen was written during the First World War, when the composer lived in London as a refugee. Also on the program is A Farewell to Stromness, written by Peter Maxwell Davies as a domestic protest against the Orkney mines during WWII.
“As a musician, I know how important music is in people’s lives. A live concert is a way to feel normal again, even in such a terrible war. My visit is designed to show that people here, in London, in Britain, support Ukraine, and that we are with you,” says the organist.
But this visit of Ashley Valentine to Ukraine is not the first. The fact is that he dreamed of visiting our country since childhood. When the Revolution of Dignity began in Ukraine, Ashley closely followed the events in our country. And in 2015, on the Independence Day of Ukraine, he came to Kyiv. For two weeks, the British traveled through Ukraine, visiting Chernobyl, Odessa and Lviv. Since then, he has been helping Ukraine by holding charity concerts.
After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ashley began teaching Ukrainian refugee children in London.
“Their success made me think about how many other Ukrainian children like them have interrupted their musical education… and that’s when I founded the charity organization Make It Possible Ukraine.” As part of this initiative in Lviv, I plan to teach music for a week at a summer school for immigrant children,” says the Briton.
Ashley Valentine will give free piano and singing lessons, and she will bring books about music with her, specially collected for Ukrainian children by benefactors in London.
You can buy tickets for the British organist’s performance at the Lviv Organ Hall on the website or at the Organ Hall box office.
More information is always available on the website of the Organ Hall and communication platforms Instagram, Facebook.