Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and Munich Philharmonic raise €330,000 for Ukrainian children

A charity concert held on Tuesday evening saw €330,000 raised for Save the Children Deutschland, with proceeds going to Ukrainian children. The concert was a collaboration between violinist Mutter, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayerisches Staatsorchester and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, conducted by Lahav Shani.

Mutter performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto, as well as Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with violist Vladimir Babeshko. The orchestra also performed Beethoven Symphony no. 5 and the Ukrainian National Anthem.

Munich Philharmonic Orchestra recently eliminated ties with Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, who previously served as the orchestra’s chief conductor. After failing to respond to an ultimatum given by the mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, to denounce the Russian invasion, Gergiev was fired from the post, which he had held since 2015.

Mutter will perform another charity concert tonight, 17 March at 8.15pm CET,  Dortmund Concert Hall. Organised in cooperation with the Ruhr Piano Festival, Mutter will be joined by cellist Pablo Ferrández and pianist Lauma Skride with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christoph Poppen. The programme will consist of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Triple Concerto, as well as Moments of Memory by the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov.

In a statement for Save the Children, Mutter said, ’This is a terrible humanitarian catastrophe. We must stand with the people of Ukraine. From the bottom of my heart I ask for your donation to Save the Children so that as many children as possible in Ukraine and neighboring countries can be helped.’

Donations to Save the Children can be made here.