EXCLUSIVE. He kicked Netrebko out of the New York Opera! The world must HEAR the TRUTH! Peter GELB

Well, I'm here for two reasons which are connected. I am here because of my ongoing efforts to support Ukraine in this terrible time of need, to give advice and to set up programs on the cultural front that will demonstrate to the world the importance of Ukrainian culture, and to, at a time particularly now when there are so many events taking place in the world, make sure that Ukraine stays at the top of the news cycle and to do everything I can with the power of my institution, the Metropolitan Opera, to provide support. My wife is conducting a concert tonight here, and I'm very proud of her, and we are kind of a team working together to support Ukraine. So I'm here specifically; the dates of my visit coincide with her conducting here.

Well, you know, the energy of Kyiv is extraordinary. The most extraordinary thing about this place are the people. It's the people that make an opera house, the people that make a city. This is a great theater, and I'm very proud to be inside of it. But it is the people who work here and the people who are fighting so valiantly for the freedom of their country that is the most impressive part of Kyiv.

Well, I think I'm proud of them collectively. You know, as you know, within two or three days of the invasion, at the very first performance of the Met that took place after the invasion, we had the orchestra and the chorus come on stage to sing the Ukrainian national anthem to show our support of the country. Within weeks, a few weeks later, we had our concert in honor of Ukraine. I'm so proud to be introducing Ukrainian music to the world in the form of concerts at the Met and also with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra that my wife and I established with the help of the Polish government, the Polish Opera, and the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture. Now we are very excited about the new opera 'The Mothers of Kharkiv,' which is an opera the Metropolitan Opera has commissioned and which we are fast-tracking because of the need for it to be heard, since it chronicles this terrible tragedy. Normally an opera takes five or six years from the time it's conceived to the time it's performed. In this case, it's going to be more like three or four years. And in fact, we're already on this summer's tour of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. The composer, the Ukrainian composer Maxim Kimiet, who was making this opera, which is not yet completed, took aside some time to make a special suite from the opera that will be performed as the opening piece on the program of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. So we are taking every opportunity to use this music, this opera, to tell this very important story of these brave mothers in Kharkiv at the beginning of the occupation who lost their teenage daughters and then set out bravely to rescue them.

You know, people like to forget painful things, and it is our duty. It's the duty of you as a journalist, it's the duty of me as an artist to not let them forget. Journalism is very important in chronicling, in reporting the news on a daily basis. Art is important for lasting forever. And between the journalistic accounts of this tragedy and this artistic venture, which will be seen when we perform it at the Metropolitan Opera, it will be broadcast. It will be seen not only by the audience in the theater, but also broadcast to cinemas around the world. So millions of people will see this. This will be a permanent testimony to the tragedy so that people will never forget.

You know, all my life I've believed in what is morally the right thing to do. My greatest regret is that I did not come to Ukraine's defense at the beginning of the war, that it took the invasion to wake me up and to galvanize the world. There are many battles and wars going on in the world. There's only one war where there is only one side that is right and one side that is wrong, and that is this war. Putin's attempt to destroy Ukraine, to destroy its people, to destroy its culture, to destroy its monuments, its cities, its very soul, is so clearly the wrong, the most horrible thing to imagine. So it's very easy for anyone to understand what is right and what is wrong. The fact that the whole world doesn't understand it is of great concern to me. And so that is one of the reasons why I'm fighting for Ukraine because I want to help make the world understand that there is only one right path in this situation, and that is to defend Ukraine.

Well, you know, shortly after the invasion, we were together in London within a week or so after the invasion. She was working, I was having some meetings, and we were watching the news reports of the war and of the invasion and seeing the Ukrainian refugees leaving the country at first. And it was at that moment that my wife and I looked at each other and she said, 'I must create an orchestra to fight for Ukraine.' And that is how the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra was born. It is an instrument; as you know, it is made up of musicians from both inside Ukraine, from cities from Kharkiv to Odessa to Kyiv to Lviv, and Ukrainian musicians who are part of the broader diaspora of Ukrainian musicians outside of Ukraine. And every summer they come together. It's kind of Ukraine's all-star orchestra. And these musicians are dedicated to one thing only, which is to fight for their country. And my wife is a very proud leader of them. And this summer, once again in August, they'll be performing everywhere from Baltic nations like Lithuania and Latvia to London and Amsterdam and Lucerne, to bring attention to Ukraine to the world.