Concert to help Ukraine coming to Glen Cove

Gigi Ferrante and Carol Waldman said they see a strong connection between the suffering Jews experienced during the Holocaust and what Ukrainians are experiencing now. What better response can there be to all of the suffering than to host a fundraiser in the form of a concert. And Glen Cove’s Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County is the perfect location, they said.

“We are trying to provide humanitarian relief for what’s going on there,” said Waldman, the former director of the Glen Cove Senior Center. “And music is a vehicle to honor and acknowledge the Ukraine heritage and culture.”

She has been assisting Ferrante, of Glen Cove, in arranging for the Concert for Peace on March 27. A trio of professional performers, which include two Ukrainians, will be performing a classical concert. Both Jewish and Ukrainian music will be performed that day. 

The two women hope to raise over $10,000, for the United Ukraine Relief Committee, a non-profit created in 1944 to help those in need. The organization is currently focusing on Ukraine, where they are providing humanitarian aid. 

“I think if I can inspire people to do something that it will make me feel really happy,” said Ferrante, who came up with the idea of a concert. “People asked me, what’s the rush? We could do the fundraiser six months from now but there may not be a Ukraine then.”

Ferrante thought of the idea after seeing her daughter, Paloma Ferrante, a professional cellist, perform a concert to honor the Greek Jews who died in the Holocaust. She decided to bring a concert to Glen Cove to help the Ukrainians.

“The Ukrainians are being persecuted,” Ferrante said. “I’m hoping the concert will relieve some of the pain.”

She worries about the musicians in Ukraine who are being forced to leave their instruments when they flee. She said, the instruments are like their child or significant other. She has asked the UURC to make sure that some of the funds raised are given to musicians too. 

“When I called them, they said I was the first person to think of the musicians there,” she said. 

Ukrainians, singer Hanna Golodinskii and pianist Pavel Gintov, will be performing with Paloma. The 39-year-old said she freelances and is looking forward to playing Ukrainian music, which she has never played before. The music is melodic, she said.

“They need donations in Ukraine,” Paloma said. “They are basically nomads there.”

Dr. Eve Lupenko Ferrante, a former Glen Cove city councilwoman, is helping too. She has been working on gift baskets. Lupenko Ferrante said she feels personally connected with what is happening in Ukraine because her first husband is Ukrainian. 

“I’m the kind of person who wants to help other people,” she said. “And I hope to be a good example for others so they will do good. I feel a bond with these people.”

The Holocaust Museum is the perfect location for the concert, she said, because it is not just a memorial to those from the Holocaust. It is also a place to teach today’s generation about tolerance and being respectful to everyone. 

She is proud that the concert will be held in Glen Cove. “Whenever someone needs something in Glen Cove the people come out in droves to help,” she said. 

Waldman said the concert will also serve to help those who want to help. “All of us have been sitting with the feeling of helplessness and want to do something to help,” she said. “The idea is not to sit back and watch in horror, but to make a difference in people’s lives.”