MRIYA is the dream. The dream of a free culture and country and the dream of peace. It is not only an excellent orchestra, but behind it is a strong team, network and platform.
MRIYA is the inspiration for many other projects that followed its path, but MRIYA was the first orchestra in exile after the Russian invasion on 24th February 2022, founded by the first artists who arrived in Germany in early March 2022.
Still being active with over 120 concerts since March 2022 it outlives most initiatives. But Why?
It sounds almost unbelievable, but it is true: A small NPO (Culture Connects) from Hamburg, the digital connectivity, the endless work and motivation of the founders Roman and Lev and the courage of the Ukrainian women led by Kateryna Suprun in a war situation made it possible to put a high class orchestra on the biggest stages in Germany.
And the risk paid off, the media celebrated the debut concerts worldwide and the rest is history.
Click >here< for the press reviews.
The success of the orchestra almost overshadows the most important parts of the multi-level project:
EDUCATION
MRIYA supported over 1000 hours of music lessons in Germany for children affected by the war. And it succesfully transferred the children and their Ukrainian teachers into the German state music school system. Now we focus on supporting children by providing instruments in Germany and even transporting some to Ukraine.
NETWORK
The MRIYA platform went online on 30th of March 2022. MRIYA connects hundreds of professional Ukrainian musicians who fled the war. We try to help through concerts and support programs in cooperation with partners like GOETHE Institute, Ernst von Siemens Music Foundations and the Koerber Foundation, the GVL and many more.
HUMANITARIAN AID
This is the reason for what we are doing: We try to make an impact to stop the suffering of the Ukrainian people defending themselves. Here we concentrate on medical help and providing basic goods like electricity generators, food or everyday items. But we also send cultural goods like a piano to a music school with the truck in the picture above.
Take a look at an impression from our Berlin debut:
TRAILER
“Perfection almost off the cuff!“
Tagesspiegel Berlin
“Breathtaking heights of quality“
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
“Sensational debut”
Hamburger Abendblatt