Prime Orchestra was created in 2014 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Maksym Maksymenko, a concert director, Iurii Rybalka, a director and screenwriter, and Oleksiy Khorolsky, a music producer of the orchestra. Oleksiy Khorolsky is also playing the lead guitar during the performances. He gave an interview for www.MetalPhotos.org just before Prime Orchestra’s concert in Varna, Bulgaria, on September 13th, 2025.

MetalPhotos:
– Hello! You are one of the three friends that created Prime Orchestra in 2014. Did you know each other before this project? How did you start it?

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
– Hello!
Yes, we knew each other. Iurii Rybalka and I sometimes worked together. I was working as a producer of little projects, cover projects, original projects, and projects for Eurovision too, and Iurii Rybalka was a director at one Agency for Special Events. One day he called to me, and he said: “Oleksiy, I have an idea. If you are interested in it, please come to me.” and I went to him. And Iurii and Maksym (Maksym is our concert director and a general producer) told me about the idea of beginning a symphonic orchestra, which will play popular music in different styles – rock, pop, etc. A little bit later, after about one year since the beginning of this orchestra project, I invited a DJ and we did start playing DJ music and electronic music with the orchestra.

MetalPhotos:
– Will the DJ play on this show? Is he here now?

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
– Artur Spivak is here now but in another role; he will be the drummer now. He will not play electronic music, because we are on tour with our rock program. We have another program with him, with electronic music.

MetalPhotos:
– Prime Orchestra had thousands of concerts in Europe with the Rock Sympho Show, and you visited many cities in many countries. Now is the 10th anniversary of the orchestra. Did you have tours in America and other countries except in Europe?

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
– Unfortunately not yet, but we have a plan for America. Now we have a fourth tour in Europe, in the Balkan countries, Turkey, all of Europe, and Scandinavia.

MetalPhotos:
– Are the Prime Orchestra’s performers professional musicians only?

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
– Yes, they are professionals only. We also have several students from the conservatory, and they are very good performers.

MetalPhotos:
– You have vocalists that perform the songs with the orchestra. Do you work with the same singers each time?

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
-No, only for the rock program we have three teams of singers, and we work with some of them when we are on tour. It is because they have their own schedule, and sometimes ous schedule is not comfortable for us or for them. We rotate them. In the rock program we have nine singers. We have a big base of artists, and we have the schedule of everyone, so we just call who is free and plan with them the next dates.

MetalPhotos:
– After the beginning of the war in Ukraine, your musicians had to leave the country and live somewhere else. Where do you live now?

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
-We are living in different countries. I live in Germany now. I think that about 20 percent of our team live in Germany. Our musicians live all over Europe.

MetalPhotos:
– We are sorry about the war in Ukraine. Prime Orchestra is doing a great job by raising funds to support the Ukrainian people with so much help.

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
– Yes, every viewer who is coming to our concerts is a big deal for us, every viewer who donates or is just supporting us is a big deal.

MetalPhotos:
– I hope that the war will stop soon and all the world will be free from this terrible terror. Prime Orchestra has made an online record in the times of COVID-19. It is very interesting. Does the orchestra have published records of DVDs and CDs?

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
– We have four CDs and we are waiting for the new CD record from our last year to be published. We don’t have DVDs yet, but we have many videos on YouTube. We have only live albums. We don’t have studio albums. You can buy CDs during our concerts. Every visitor can buy them and can donate for medical supplies and transportation for hospitals in Ukraine.

MetalPhotos:
– Do you want to say something more for the interview?

Oleksiy Khorolsky:
– Music is a universal language for all the people. We are saying from the stage to the people, please be in peace. Be at rest, be in peace, and please, don’t begin any war. Just listen to music, just relax in nature, just relax from your life, and do something that would make your life better. We make music, and we give music and mood to all of our viewers. Come, listen to the music, and just live your life.

After the interview, the audience filled the Summer Theater, the lights dimmed, and the performance began.

Prime Orchestra is on a grand European tour to the end of April 2026 with their Rock Sympho Show program. The audience in Varna had the chance to visit a unique performance of hits of Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Scorpions, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, SOAD, Ozzy Osbourne, and others. Prime Orchestra has an excellent collaboration between a rock band, a symphonic orchestra, a chorus, exceptional vocalists, unique music arrangements, and a charismatic conductor. The show uses the latest modern sound technologies, LED screens, pyrotechnics, and special effects. The musicians have other programs too – 80’s-90’s Dance Sympho Show, Hogwarts Sympho Show, Christmas Sympho Show, and others.

Prime Orchestra is raising funds for the people in Ukraine via selling the orchestra’s live CDs during their concerts, selling souvenirs, and collecting donations from sympathetic spectators.
The orchestra has sent dozens of tons of food products, medical equipment and aids for people with disabilities, medicines, clothing, baby food, 50 gasoline generators, and much more to Ukraine. Two ambulances for Kharkiv and a special bus with a hydraulic lift and rehabilitation simulators for the restoration of motor functions of amputee patients for the Kiev Clinical Hospital. The orchestra donated a four-wheel drive van and three ambulance jeeps. For the evacuation missions in Eastern Ukraine, a fully equipped “Mobile Military Hospital” was built and sent to the combat zone, where doctors will save human lives. These are just some of the Prime Orchestra’s supporting acts. The musicians will continue their helping mission on their tours until the end of the war.