Alexander Boldachev’s performance has been postponed to the next edition

The Dutch Harp Festival has always aimed to be a celebration of artists and music. We believe in the power of music to bring people together and transcend borders and boundaries. Such words may come easy to us, safe, here in Utrecht. But in that steadfast belief, even though we have tried to be sensitive to the realities of the war in Ukraine, we may have not been sensitive enough.

Already booked for our canceled 2020 festival, Swiss-Russian harpist Alexander Boldachev who has recently been performing in numerous charity concerts for aid to victims of this war, as well as posting daily Instagram posts with music set to Ukrainian poems, was scheduled to perform a Sunday afternoon concert at our festival.

In addition to over 30 other artists, we have also invited Ukrainian singer and bandura player Maryna Krut to be a special guest at our festival. Maryna traveled from Kyiv to The Netherlands a week ago, while back in Ukraine, her loved ones are literally fighting at the front. Given these circumstances, it is proving too stressful for her to share the festival with a Russian artist, despite his support for the Ukrainian cause, at this time.

We have discussed this situation with Alexander Boldachev and he has been very gracious in agreeing to postpone his contribution to the next festival.