Keri-Lynn Wilson, who founded Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, becomes music director of Kyiv Camerata

NEW YORK — (AP) — Keri-Lynn Wilson was hired Monday as music director of the Kyiv Camerata.

She succeeds Valery Matyukhin, who established the chamber orchestra in 1977 and died last year.

“We shall be performing for Ukraine’s brave and discerning audiences and defending Ukraine’s cultural identify from those who wish to deny it,” Wilson said in a statement.

A 57-year-old Canadian-Ukrainian conductor, Wilson founded the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She is the wife of Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb.

Wilson makes her debuts this season at the New York Philharmonic and Berlin's Staatsoper unter den Linden. She has conducted at London's Royal Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Paris Opéra, the Bavarian State Opera and the Met.

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