Those Two Imposters

Returning from a plague year

It's been 2 1/2 year since the Mozart Group emerged from the siege of Kyiv.... and 18 months since it ended.

This is the story of what really happened during that plague year -- and, just as extraordinary, what has happened since.

It's not an easy story to tell - the experience tested my last reserves of resilience and has changed me in profound ways.

Some will see my story as a cautionary tale. Others will hear a story about overcoming the odds -- and perhaps even find inspiration:

The title comes from the Kipling poem ‘If’ — which was the first poem I learned as an 8 year-old new boy at boarding school in the UK.

Kipling had Triumph and Disaster pegged:

‘If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools’