Our friends from the Ukraine, the Kyiv Classic Accordion Duo are making their annual visit (their twelfth) to play in St Finnbarr’s on 25th July 2019. The concert starts at 7:30pm and they will be playing music by: Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach, Greig, Saint-Saëns, Borodin, Piazzolla and Anderson.  If you’ve not heard them before, here’s a sample: Dance of the Furies by Gluck.

Be sure to put the date in your diaries so that you don’t miss out on the opportunity to hear these two professional musicians conjure up a whole orchestra with just two accordions!! As entry is free but there is a retiring collection and there will be CDs available to purchase. All proceeds, as always will go to the charity Hippokrat, which supports survivors of the Chenobyl Nuclear Disaster.

About the Kyiv Classical Accordion Duo:
In 2006 Igor and Oleksii finished studying in the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kiev. However they had begun performing professionally in 2002. Oleksii now plays in the Orchestra of the National Radio of Ukraine; Igor works in the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. They decided to give the name Kyiv Duo Classic to the duo, however this doesn’t mean that Igor and Oleksiy perform only classical music; programmes of their concerts include music of Bach, Grieg, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov as well as traditional Ukrainian and Russian music. Two contemporary button accordions make it possible to produce a sound like a small squeezebox and at the same time, like a big church organ, a string quartet and even an orchestra.

About their charity – HIPPOKRAT:
One of the main purposes of the Kyiv Classic Accordion Duo 2009 UK tour was to raise money for the HIPPOKRAT Society of Mothers of Disabled Children who suffered as a result of the explosion in 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Energy Plant. This has remained the focus of fund-raising on each subsequent tour, as the need continues. The Chernigiv region suffered most from the radiation fall out and since 1986 a large number of children have been born with mental and physical problems. Many of these children are now young adults and in need of support that the state is unable to provide.

As Oleksiy explains:

“There are at least 1000 invalid children in Chernigiv which has a total population of around 320,000 and unfortunately, these children get no real support from the state. The mother of a disabled child usually needs to be with the child all the time, so she cannot earn money. That is why the Society of Mothers of Disabled Children, HIPPOKRAT, was founded more than 15 years ago”.

“The task of HIPPOKRAT is to provide families with invalid children with food, medicine and money. HIPPOKRAT also organises different events and parties with presents for children. It is not a commercial organisation. It is run by 10 women led by Valentina Frol. They do not receive any money for their job and all of them have disabled children”.