Leading Scottish musicians, poets and actors to appear in Concert for Ukraine fundraiser

A host of Scotland’s leading musicians, singers, poets and actors are to take to the stage for a huge fundraiser to help people affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

Capercaillie stars Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson, Scots Makar Kathleen Jamie, fiddlers Duncan Chisholm and Bruce McGregor, and piper Ross Ainslie will be in the line-up at Perth Concert Hall’s event next month.

The “Concert for Ukraine” will feature appearances from Ukranian soprano Oksana Mavrodii, who is based in Glasgow, and actor Matthew Jajac, who created a stage play based on the story of his father’s journey from eastern Poland to Scotland during the Second World War

Musicians from the Scots trad bands Old Blind Dogs, Malinky and Manran will also be appearing at the event, on April 20, along with multi-instrumentalists Hamish Napier and Tim Edey, accordionist Phil Cunningham, and Gaelic singers Julie Fowlis and Mary Ann Kennedy.

Ukranian soprano Oksana Mavrodii, who is based in Glasgow, will be appearing at the fundraiser in Perth Concert Hall.

All performers and crew appearing at the £25-per-head event will be donating their services for free. Proceeds are going to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal set up earlier this month by the UK-based Disaster Emergency Committee, which responds to large-scale disasters.

Horsecross, the arts organisation that runs Perth Concert Hall, said the Concert for Ukraine would be a “powerful display of solidarity through the coming together of so many well-known artists from Scotland’s vibrant trad music scene, woven together with poetry and Ukrainian song, to show support and raise funds for the people of Ukraine whose country has so violently been attacked”.

The Disaster Emergency Committee, which involves 15 of the UK’s leading aid charities, raised more than £200 million in the space of two weeks, the equivalent of around £3 for every person in the UK.

Andy Shearer, creative director for contemporary music at Perth Concert Hall, said: “Nobody can fail to be moved by the horrendous situation in Ukraine and we all feel a compulsion to do something to help.

Scots Makar Kathleen Jamie, who was appointed Scotland's national poet last year, will be appearing at the Concert for Ukraine in Perth Concert Hall. Picture: Robert Perry/PA Wire

“Perth Concert Hall is honoured and humbled to be hosting Concert for Ukraine. It’s an opportunity for music lovers and, in fact, anyone who wants to get involved, to make a real difference by spending £25 on a ticket and coming along to what will be an unforgettable evening of music and poetry.”

Chisholm said: “With the unbelievable situation unfolding in Ukraine, we all feel a duty to try to help in some way.

“A concert to raise funds and to show support and unity with the people of Ukraine is a small gesture, but something we feel is really important.”

Napier said: “Ukraine desperately needs funds and support in this terrible time of war.

Capercaillie stars Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson will be appearing in the Concert for Ukraine in Perth next month.

"All proceeds raised at the event will go towards essentials like food, shelter, medicines and more.

"We feel helpless when we watch the news and see the horrors unfolding. But we can do something - come to this wonderful evening of music and fundraising, lend your support and stand together with the people of Ukraine.”

Tickets for the Concert for Ukraine go on sale at 10am on Wednesday.