Young Ukrainian musicians to perform in St Paul's Church in Bedford

Two professional musicians from Ukraine who have had to start a new life in Britain will be performing in Bedford this week.

Mariia Yaremak and Izabella Ivaschenko have created a gripping performance about Ukraine and the effects of the Russian invasion on its people. They are performing for free to help raise funds for a Ukrainian charity supporting those made homeless by the war, by voluntary collection at the end

Mariia and Izabella explained: "Everyone knows where our country is on the map and people are talking about Ukraine everywhere. But how can we describe our country?

“The Ukrainian language is considered one of the most poetic in the world: but how does our music sound?

"We have a history of singing, both in joy and sorrow, about historical events, about love, about work and now particularly what it means to be Ukrainian.

"We have combined live performance, video and eye-witness accounts of the war, to paint a picture of what life is like in Ukraine now and to immerse people into an atmosphere of art and emotions: those languages that we can all understand without words.

"Our music is light, delicate, but at the same time very courageous, because we use it to describe difficult situations, transmuting the pain and suffering of all Ukrainians into our art. In particular, our last composition is dedicated to the small children who have been killed and who will never hear their mothers' lullabies again."

The special performance will be held in the presence of Deputy-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Ismail Anilmis.

Entry will be free with a retiring collection where the audience can donate to a Ukrainian charity supporting those made homeless by the war. Donations are monitored by Rotary Clubs in the UK and in Ukraine.

This is the last opportunity to hear Mariia and Izabella play together. After an earlier performance, one reviewer said the performance was "not for the very young, or the faint-hearted, yet it avoids images of death and is powerful and beautiful, bringing home the effect of war in a way that reported news cannot".

The performance is on Thursday, September 29 and starts at 7.30pm.