Musicians of the world´s professional orchestras unite for Ukraine

Dear colleagues,

as musicians we want to send a sign of solidarity and hope to the citizens in Ukraine and to our colleagues there. Our initiative has its origins in Bonn, the native town of Beethoven, and is linked to the opera orchestra in Odessa. We cordially ask you to join our initiative. The task is easy, it takes only 30 minutes. (Details see below)

Together we want to produce a music video in which many musicians from leading European orchestras play the theme from Beethoven’s Ninth and the anthem of Ukraine. The combination of these musical themes is intended to underline our wish for an early end to the completely senseless Russian war of aggression and soon lasting peace in Ukraine. Through the power of music, we as Europeans want to underline our close bond with the Ukrainian people. You too can join in. It would be great to have you on board!

Please forward this invitation to your musician friends today! See and hear you soon!

Kind regards

Christoph Müller (Bonn)
Stas Sagdeyev (Odessa)
Polina Kelm (Kyiv)

So far, musicians from the following orchestras have participated

Beethoven Orchestra, Bonn
WDR Symphony Orchestra
New Philharmonic Orchestra Westphalia
SWR Symphony Orchestra
Cologne Conservatory
Detmold College of Music
German Brass
German Pops Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
SWR Big Band
NDR Big Band
WDR Bigband
Bigband of the German Armed Forces
WDR-Funkhaus-Orchestra
German Military Music

(as of June 22, 2022)

Here is what you should do:

Download the sheet music for your part and the prerecorded audio track here!
Use headphones when listening to the prerecorded track so that this cannot be heard on your video. Use another device to film yourself; a smartphone will work well. The tuning is 440 HZ
Record in landscape mode; frame rate 30 frames per second (fps), make sure the video recording option is set to a good resolution (ideally FullHD).
At the very beginning of the prerecorded piece, identify yourself by showing your name, orchestra, and country on a white sheet of paper, and hold it in front of the camera.
After that, you will hear 4 beats to count you in, and then 4 beats to clap your hands to. We need this for our synchronizing all the videos later.
After a short pause, the actual count-in will start, you will hear the prerecorded track, and you can add your part to it.
Do not film AGAINST the light!
Please place the camera at eye level.
Please leave some time at the end of the recording and look friendly into the camera.
If the score contains more than one parts for your instrument, you can decide whether you want to record one or more parts. But please indicate on your initial identification sheet which part(s) you play.
Afterwards upload your recording with the upload button below.
If for some reason the video upload on this page is difficult for you, please send us your video via WeTransfer to: info@weplay4ukraine.com

Your Contribution for the Project

The deadline for entries is 31. of August 11:59pm
We want our musical message to reach Odessa as soon as possible, as unfortunately this city is also increasingly becoming a focus of the war.

Please note the following before uploading your video:
You cannot enforce the claim to have your video published.
We reserve the right to mark your name, nationality and, if applicable, your ensemble affiliation in the video: The global diversity among the contributors should – in the spirit of the project’s message – be recognizable at first glance for the viewers, in the final video!

Any monetary proceeds that may arise from the public use of the final video, will be directed to the charity account of the Fund for Cultural Restoration of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

Please make sure to submit your video file as well !
If the upload bar has reached 100%, your video has NOT yet been submitted!
Finally also press the button “Upload data & video” to transmit your work! Thank you!