On June 30th 2012 in Kiev, Ukraine, at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) a grand charity concert dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS will take place. Good friends of Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation as well as colleagues in fighting AIDS, legendary stars Elton John and Queen with Adam Lambert will rock Kiev to say: "Your life is not a game! Let's stop AIDS together". This concert will be the largest social and cultural event of EURO 2012. It will gather hundreds of thousands of people on the main square of Ukraine and be seen by millions of viewers on TV screens throughout Ukraine and Poland.
In recognition of the importance and the charitable status of this project, the musicians who will perform on that night will waive their fees.
The concert will be held under UEFA support one day before the EURO 2012 final in the official FAN zone of the football Championship. It will be broadcasted live on Ukrainian and Polish Television.
"On June 30th at the main square of our country the most titled and bright English team of Elton John and Queen will play for Ukraine against AIDS" - Elena Pinchuk said at the press-conference devoted to the concert announcement which was held today, June 7th 2012.
VIP guests will have an opportunity to make charitable donation for the new joint project of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation aimed at educating Ukrainian children about HIV/AIDS using symbols and rules of football.
It is not the first time that the artists who will be taking part in the concert are visiting Kiev with the charitable mission of helping fight AIDS in Ukraine and to protect millions of people against HIV-infection. Their cooperation with Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation has a longstanding history.
A concert by Sir Elton John in Kiev in 2007 gave start to the cooperation between the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation that is aimed at helping HIV-positive children. Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation provided a grant of 2.5 million USD for the five-year project "Children+".
In 2011 the two foundations unveiled a further initiative to the public - a new joint charity project for HIV/AIDS prevention aimed to help homeless girls and young women who live and work on the streets.
One of the lasting results of a concert by Queen + Paul Rodgers at the Kharkov Plosha Svobody (the Liberty Square) organized in cooperation with the Mercury Phoenix Trust (
www.mercuryphoenixtrust.com) in September 2008 was a new care centre for HIV-positive children in the Zelenogaisky orphanage in Kharkov which was repaired and renovated using the funds raised the concert.
Thanks to the ongoing media campaigns of the ANTIAIDS Foundation, the support of world-famous stars such as Sir Elton John and Queen, and numerous projects aimed to help people living with HIV/AIDS implemented by partner organizations, it became possible to reduce the growth rate of new HIV cases in Ukraine by five times in the last five years.