The devastating explosion that occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, on 26 April 1986, left two people dead from the initial steam explosion and countless others victims to radiation from the nuclear explosion.

Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. Four hundred times more fallout than had been caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Greenpeace believes that 93,000 cancer deaths may be attributed to the incident. In addition to the cost to human health, the explosion left a lasting environmental impact, contaminating water, plants, wildlife and crops.
 
Financially the disaster is estimated as costing overall $200 billion (£137 billion), taking inflation into account. This places the Chernobyl disaster  as the most costly in modern history.
 
A concert in remembrance of victims of  the disaster will be held on 27 April at St George's Church, Hanover Square, London. An original adaptation of Bach's High Mass, along with works by Beethoven and Chopin will be performed by pianist Igor Olovnikov, the People's Artist of the Republic of Belarus.  He will be joined by musicians from CIS (Central Asian, Russian and Ukrainian musicians in the UK).

This is the third concert of the Equipes de Sogdiana, organised to promote central Asian students studying music in the UK. The concerts are supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus.