Met Opera to stage March 14 benefit for Ukraine relief

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Opera will stage a benefit concert on March 14 for Ukraine relief efforts that will be broadcast on radio worldwide. Music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead a program that will feature Ukrainian bass-baritone Vladyslav Buialskyi and the Met chorus in Ukraine’s national anthem and “A Prayer for the Ukraine,” a choral work by a Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. The 70-minute program also will include Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, “Va, pensiero” from Verdi’s Nabucco,” soprano Lise Davidsen in Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs and the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.