Ukrainians and Russians are very close in language, culture, and history, and yet, Ukrainians have suffered enormously at the hands of its much larger neighbour, from Imperial Russia's various attempts at Russification of Ukraine from the 18th century onwards, to the Holodomor during the 1930's when Stalin killed upwards of seven million Ukrainians through forced famine, and now, Putin's completely indefensible war against Ukraine. I stand helpless, raging against this war which is solely the choice of one pathetic evil man. I doubt there has ever been any war with less support than Putin's war. So few Russians want this war waged against their neighbours with whom they share many ties of friendship, commerce, family. Today we will hear music of suffering and defiance from Ukraine, Latvia, and Finland, all pointed at resistance towards Russian imperialism. Sibelius' grand 2nd symphony dates from 1902 when Finland was part of the Russian Empire, and many Finns were striving for independence in the face of Russian restrictions on language and culture. Sibelius' symphony was received ecstatically by the Finnish public who saw it echoing this struggle for independence which would not come until 1917. This independence from Russia was not secured without continuing struggle. A little known front in the 2nd World War was the Winter War during the winter of 1939-40 between Finland and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union tried to force Finland back into its empire but the outgunned and outmanned Finns defeated the Soviet Union. Latvians (as well as their other Baltic neighbours) remember Soviet duplicity well. Like Finland, they were part of the Russian Empire and gained their independence with struggle between 1917 and 1920. The rest of the world little remembers that the USSR was allied with Hitler's 3rd Reich in 1939 and part of their pact was the USSR would invade Poland from the East and would also invade the three Baltic nations. They were then occupied by the Nazis after their 1941 invasion of the USSR and then they were re-occupied by the Soviets from 1944 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. They led the struggle for independence starting in 1988 which led to the freedom of 14 nations: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. This history and the struggle for independence have largely shaped the music of Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, whose first symphony was composed while there were Soviet tanks and loss of life in Riga in January 1991. His cello concerto dates from 1994 and Vasks "has described the work as being inspired not just by the solo instrument but also by a sense of the decades of suffering and humiliation which the people endured under the Soviet Regime, and the psychological strength which helped the people survive." We will begin with my favourite Ukrainian-Canadian composer and musician, the mystic pianist-composer Lubomyr Melnyk. We will hear his impossibly beautiful and sad "Concert Requiem" for piano and violin from 1983. This work was subtitled "Requiem of the 7 Million", dedicated to the victims of the Holodomor, a recording with Melnyk on the piano and Canadian violinist Marc Sabat. Lubomyr Melnyk was supposed to be touring Ukraine again right now. I spoke with him just yesterday and he is safe. He composed and recorded a short piece, which he wrote after seeing a picture of a young Russian soldier lying dead. To Putin: THIS is what a great man is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr2ofP0Qof4 This program is dedicated to the courageous Ukrainians defending their freedom.