Wednesday, December 14, 2022

‘Something to fight for’

Dalia Stasevska conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (photo by Todd Rosenberg)

     Musicians bridge the chasm between our world of woe and the higher sphere of the sublime. Just look at Dalia Stasevska. Six weeks ago she was driving a van filled with supplies into war-torn Ukraine, her homeland. Last weekend, she made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducting a trio of concerts.
     “It was fantastic,” she said. “This is a legendary orchestra. I grew up listening to their recordings.”
     Born in Kyiv, she grew up in Finland and trained as a violinist. She has conducted around the world, but this is her first visit to Chicago; she was grateful for the blue and yellow flags on display. 
     ”American support has meant so much for Ukraine,” she said. “I can’t underline it enough. The first day I walked in this city and saw Ukrainian flags. It meant so much.”
     When the Russians invaded earlier this year, Stasevska wasn’t sure she should continue wielding a baton.
     “The war has changed my life quite a lot,” she said. “When the war broke out in February ... I was just on my way to conduct the Seattle orchestra. I seriously thought of canceling all my concerts. The Seattle Symphony Orchestra was really kind to me. They called me and asked, ‘What can we do to help Ukraine?’ It made me think: I cannot change the world and stop this war with music. But I can use my mouth and speak out and use this platform as my own front line.”
     She has family in Ukraine and has been back twice since the war started, delivering medicine and supplies.
     ”It’s really heartbreaking to go there and see the country so crippled,” she said. “Indescribably heartbreaking. The city in sandbags. Bombed all the time. Inflation is terrible. People don’t have money. It’s difficult to describe the reality.”
   On her latest trip, once supplies were distributed, she knew what she had to do.

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