Full houses, daily productions and new stars – the Ukrainian theater is experiencing a new stage of development. Vogue Ukraine, having looked behind the curtains of the leading theaters of the region: another material on our map is the Lviv National Opera, from the lively current productions, looking at the opera “The Golden Hoop” to the music of Boris Lyatoshynsky, directed Ivan Urivsky and the ballet “Solaris” staged by the young choreographer Katerina Kurman.
Advertising.
“You don’t need to be afraid of opera, but it’s incredibly complex,” said Ivan Cherednichenko, director and musical director of the Lviv National Opera, with a smile. Ivanova 37 rocks: tall, slim, with perfectly sculpted biceps, supported by a thin turtleneck. You could go to the podium or go to the cinema. “Go to the opera in order to feel the emotion, and for whom it is not at all obligatory to know the libreto,” he develops a thought. “It was created as a casual romp, so come and take away the satisfaction.”
We are meeting with the heart at the rehearsal of the premiere of the Lviv Opera – “The Golden Hoop” by modernist composer Boris Lyatoshynsky 1929. The process is overseen by two Ivans: the director Cherednichenko and the Kiev director Urivsky, who, at the request of the general director of the theater Vasyl Vovkun, is making his debut at the great opera. 68-river Vovkun – energetic, respectful, open-minded – admires the richness of European novelties (among the remaining enemies is “Salome” staged by Krzysztof Warlikowski at the Bavarian Opera in Berlin), does not miss the daily The premieres in Kiev of Urivsky marked three more years after the first performances of “Beztalanna” and “Limerivna” at the Frank Theater. Vovkun says: “Ivan nevypadkova is a person in our theater, wanting the opera genre for a new unknown.”
Vovkun singing that in the true sense of the day the opera theater is the one with “carnage of voices.” It’s not just about creativity, but also about management – for example, theater communicator Alina Plakhtienko and marketer Andriy Sitarsky completed internships at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2023. The Lviv Opera is one of the rarest in Ukraine, where foreign directors work: Dmitry Bortnyansky’s works “Sokil” and “Alkyd” will be staged in 2021 by the German director Andreas Weyrich, “Lohenren” Richard Wagner – Michael Sturm.
“Our mission is to raise the level of Ukrainian music as much as possible,” Ivan Cherednichenko explains the development strategy of the Lviv Opera. It respects the “Ukrainian Prov” program, within which the theater creates daily performances based on Ukrainian music. At the onset of a full-scale war, the theater’s repertoire included the operas “The Terrible Land” by Yevgen Stankovych, “Cossacks beyond the Danube” by the musical editor of Oleksandr and Dmitry Saratsky, and already the fortune-telling “The Golden Hoop” by Boris Lyatoshinsky, ballets “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” by Ivan Nebesny, “Solaris” by Oleksandr Rodin, “Know Yourself” by Dmitry Danov. For the opera “Fox Mikita” and the ballet “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, in this spring, he received the Shevchenko Prize – and in the may of a million hryvnias were donated to drones for the Eternal Forces.
About Ukrainian music Cherednichenko speaks with passion: talking about one of his favorite operas, “The Color of Ferns” by Stankovych, it seems, “I hear it immediately, but I am immediately in love.” Rozmov Ivan delves into the history of the development of Ukrainian opera in the 20th century and means: it is a shame that modern authors, such as Yuliy Meitus and Boris Lyatoshinsky, practiced harsh censorship, exchange and re-investigation from the side of the Radian government. “For decades, Ukrainian music was unfashionable and unpopular, even if one could stage Tchaikovsky or Shostakovich.
Today's Lviv Opera is actually forming a new school of composition, composing operas for new authors and opening the stage for young directors. The ballet “Solaris” based on the novel by the Polish writer Stanislaw Lem to the music of Oleksandr Rodina was staged by 25-year-old choreographer from Kiev Katerina Kurman, artist of the Kiev Modern Ballet Theater. This will be his directorial debut on the academic stage. “I spent one day rehearsing the show “Alice in the Mirror” near Kiev last year,” recalls Vasyl Vovkun. – I have been honored as I do. We got together, talked all day long – and I introduced them to “Solaris”.
I’ll ask about the rhiziki: even the opera audience is traditionally oriented towards the classical repertoire. Why go to productions that don’t have the names of Verdi and Puccini behind them? “Of course, cerizik, what if there is no one in mysticism? Without risik, there is no mysticism,” suggests Vovkun, who in 2007–2010 became the Minister of Culture of Ukraine. By the way, the viewer votes with a ticket: the absolute sales record holder of the Lviv Opera for the remaining three rocks is the ballet “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” based on the motives of the same story by Mykhailo Kotsyubinsky to the music of the Lviv composer Ivan Nebesny. This is a sensitive production with elements of daily dance, during the hour of preparation, until the moment of completeness, we were looking forward to an expedition to the Carpathians, or to immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of the tragic history of Marichka and Ivan’s farm. Every year it will be sold out, the middle age of the public is 25-35 years old.
More complicated with the opera: a week before the premiere of “The Golden Hoop”, the tickets were no longer available to the public. However, soloist Marianna Tsvetinska, who wins the role of Miroslava, knows that this is one of the most important jobs in her life. Vikonanna nastіlki svásnogo material, kazh von, zmushuє vokіstіvіt go beyond vіdіzvіchnogo i steadily vozkonolyuvatisya.
“To prepare this part clearly, you need to give it more than an hour, let’s say, “La Traviati” or “La Bohème,” which everyone knows,” explains Tsvetinska. The complexity, in other words, is that Lyatoshinsky created a powerful orchestration, giving rich respect to the middle and brass instruments – and the position of the singer is further weakened. “There is a need to give more sound, to let the resonators ripple through—we need to “cut through the orchestra,” or the voice will fly around the hall,” adds Vaughn.
Preparations before the premiere of the event will be carried out by artists from the right, far from the world. Soloist Taras Berezhansky, who sings the part of Zakhar Berkut, at the same time serves at the branch of the Kiev PPO – today he arrived for the rehearsal simply from combat training. “The worst thing is to be deprived of your time, especially during a rehearsal,” he says.
At the same time, the theater is preparing a bunch of new productions at the same time. The premiere of the ballet “Mavka” based on Lesya Ukrainka's “Forest Song” is planned for leaf fall – composer Viktoria Polova wrote the current music for it. At the heart of the next fate – the premiere of the opera “Mazeppa” by Oleksandr Rodin. In 2027 – the opera “Wedel” by Maxim Kolomiyts, a composer who, in parallel with his plans for the Lviv theater, is working on a new work for the Metropolitan Opera. “My ambition is to stage as many Ukrainian works as possible on our stage,” says Vovkun. “Budgets have been shortened in the hour of war, and government programs for supporting new operas are not working. This is not an easy burden, which we ourselves have taken on. “In truth there is a great mission, without pathos.”
Photographer: Vasylyna Vrublevska
Text: Daria Slobodianyk
Відео: Yaw Hinne
Edited by: Marina Shulikina
Style: Sonya Soltes
Makeup and hairstyles: Daria Zhadan, Maria Pogorelova
Production: Marina Sandugei-Shyshkina, Marie Nikolaenko, Oleg Patselya
