Ukrainian youth choir defies war with messages of freedom

By JAMES BROOKS
Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — From a dank Kyiv bomb shelter to the bright stage lights of Europe’s theaters, a Ukrainian youth choir’s hymns in praise of freedom offer a kind of healing balm to its war-scarred members. The Shchedryk ensemble is described as Kyiv’s oldest professional children’s choir. The group was in the Danish capital this week for a performance as part of an international tour that also took them to New York’s famed Carnegie Hall. It was supposed to be part of a busy year to celebrate the choir’s 50th anniversary. But Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine changed all that, scattering the singers inside their homeland and abroad in search of safety.