Mothers of Kherson world premiere: Keri-Lynn Wilson on abducted children | Pulse of Culture Talks

The world premiere of Mothers of Kherson, a new opera about Ukraine’s abducted children, is playing in Warsaw until October 27. Its conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson joins us. The opera by Ukrainian composer Maxim Kolomiiets and American librettist George Brant is having its world stage premiere at Teatr Wielki, the Polish National Opera. It follows women who travel thousands of kilometers through enemy territory, across Poland, Belarus and Russia, to rescue their daughters from a Russian-run camp in Crimea. The characters are fictional, but the story is drawn from the testimony of real mothers who brought their children home. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducted the first performance in concert form in Kyiv in June, with Olena Zelenska in the audience, and will take the production to the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the 2027–28 season. In this episode of Pulse of Culture Talks, host Agata Konarska speaks with Wilson about conducting a story that is still unfolding, why Warsaw was the right place for the premiere, and whether music can keep the world’s attention on Ukraine as war fatigue sets in. Wilson also talks about founding the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, working with the Kyiv Camerata through air raid sirens, and why she says Ukrainian culture is alive and “you can’t silence it”. Pulse of Culture Talks is a twice-weekly interview series on culture from Poland, presented for TVP World. 🔴 Watch our 24/7 livestream - https://youtube.com/live/m4mVcUReR6Y Bringing you all the latest daily news and updates, TVP World is Poland's first English-language channel where you can find world news as seen from the Polish perspective and the latest news from the CEE region. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. https://tvpworld.com/   / tvpworldcom     / tvpworld_com     / tvp_world   https://www.threads.net/@tvp_world https://bsky.app/profile/tvpworld.bsk...   / tvpworld.com   https://t.me/tvp_world #MothersOfKherson #Ukraine #Opera