PETER AND THE WOLF FOR UKRAINE, 26 June 2022

Free outdoor performance in Covent Garden Conductor: Petr Limonov Narrator: Sir Michael Palin

On Sunday, 26 June at 3pm, the Playing for Peace Orchestra will perform ‘Peter and the Wolf’ by Sergei Prokofiev in Covent Garden Piazza, in front of St Paul’s Church. The ensemble, made up of players from the top London orchestras, will be conducted by Petr Limonov.

The narrator will be Sir Michael Palin.

Peter and the Wolf was written in 1936 by Sergei Prokofiev, who was born in Eastern Ukraine. It is a story about a courageous and resourceful boy who defies his grumpy grandfather to leave the safety of the house and go into the forest, where he encounters and catches a ferocious wolf. The piece, strongly reminiscent of Prokofiev’s boyhood in the farms and fields of the Ukrainian countryside, serves as an introduction to the orchestra for young people: each character’s musical motif is performed by a different instrument. The bird is played by the flute, the cat by the oboe, the duck by the clarinet, the grandfather by the bassoon, and the hunters by the percussion section, with the blasts of their guns represented by thunderous bangs on the timpanis. The sinister, lurking wolf is played by French horns, and Peter is played by the entire string section, because the composer felt that the hero of the piece should have ‘more facets to his character’. This evocative tale has many parallels with the present situation in Ukraine. Peter and his friends, the duck and the bird, were enjoying the meadow, until a ‘big grey wolf came out of the forest’. The duck tried to escape the wolf, but ‘then he got her, and with one gulp, swallowed her’, reminding us of Russia’s appropriation of Crimea. Peter climbed a tree and the bird sat beside him on a branch, while ‘the wolf walked round and round the tree, looking at them with greedy eyes’. While the bird distracted the wolf, Peter skilfully trapped him by the tail. ‘Feeling himself caught, the wolf began to jump wildly, trying to get loose’.

Western support for Ukraine may be equated with the hunters, who emerged from the woods to help, but Peter had already done the principal work and merely asked them to help him to take the wolf to the Zoo. This they did, but the duck, who had been eaten alive, could still be heard inside the wolf. The Ukrainians who have been transported to Russia cannot at present be heard, but the world is trying to have faith that they are still alive.

Putin expected to take Ukraine in a matter of days. The bravery, shrewd military strategy and resilience of President Zelenskyy and his forces (Peter and the bird), and the ongoing support of Europe and America (the hunters), have thwarted his plans thus far.

Collections will be made before and after the performance in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. The Playing for Peace Orchestra is made up of musicians from many nations, including Ukraine and Russia. The conductor is the Anglo-Russian pianist Petr Limonov, and one of the French horns will be played by the composer’s grandson Gabriel Prokofiev, who is also a composer. Special guest player will be 11-year-old violinist Korney Sheldunov, who arrived from Kyiv in May; Korney has in the past played as a soloist with the Mariupol Symphony Orchestra.

The narrator for this very special performance will be Sir Michael Palin.

Further information: Juliet Barclay 07757 504977 Antonia Azoitel 07966 446152 Dan March 07941 118820