Destiny Plays with the Actor, and the Actor with Destiny
Sometimes those who know life off stage claim there is a mystical link between the life stories of actors and the characters they are fated to play onstage. For example, the will to power, inherent in many monarchs, cannot help reflecting on the nature and personal traits of those who regularly wear a crown — even if in the floodlights of a theater. Now that Ukrainian National Opera has opened a new season, we attempted, when meeting our beloved soloists again, to draw some interesting parallels between their destinies and the destinies of the power-wielding characters they often play on the opera stage.
Mykhailo DIDYK is already at home with the role of the Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. It is no secret that its plot is based on Victor Hugo’s drama Le roi s’amuse. But it was impossible in the Italy of those days to write an opera portraying an autocrat as an utter villain. So the latter is the duke. He is a bustling bon vivant not averse to the benefits and pleasures we derive from our transient earthly existence. He is able to captivate and give his love to each and every woman, without burdening himself with any responsibility whatsoever. In the Kyiv production of this opera, the Duke even takes a bath. Taking into account the drafts that sometimes blow over our singers onstage, a tenor’s performance in Rigoletto can be considered an act of courage. But Didyk is not only a Ukrainian but also an international Duke. It is natural for the singer to be the first and the best in everything. The National Opera has made a true star of the first magnitude out of Didyk. Once at the dawn of his creative career, the singer got into a funny fix during an orchestral rehearsal of The Queen of Spades. Asked by Tomsky “Tell me, Herman, what has happened. Are you not well?”, Mykhailo Didyk (Herman), instead of replying “I’m fine,” suddenly said “I’m rich.” Saying this, Didyk predicted, in a way, his destiny... Moreover, he will not complain about the opposite sex’s indifference to him. For this reason, all these facts unconditionally testify that there are many positive common features in Verdi’s duke and Didyk. Yet, the singer’s nature is, luckily, free of perfidy and callousness.
Tetiana PIMINOVA occasionally appears before the audiences in the shape of an indomitable and overbearing Amneris, daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh, one of the leading characters in Verdi’s Aїda. In fact, the overbearing Amneris ended up unhappy only once, when she failed to win the heart of her beloved. By way of intrigue and provocation, she came to know who her rival was. Amneris’s heart was brimming with so great a passion that this operatic heroine looks no less important than Aїda herself. For every mezzo-soprano the part of Amneris is the dream of a lifetime. The role allows you feel yourself an extremely imperious woman for at least one evening. The private life of Piminova was never full of such breathtaking upheavals. She is a happy wife and mother. Still, acting gives the artist an unavoidable opportunity to mentally put on other people’s masks. Ms. Piminova molds the image of Amneris according to the principle of the unity of opposites. This highly exotic character leaves the actress free to choose her means of expression. For we cannot know with certainty how the pharaoh’s daughter walked, bore herself, or gestured: this requires personal fantasy. But it is also indisputable that the actor gets through her conflicts onstage by using his own life experience. For, as the centuries pass, human love, passion, and sadness remain unchanged. Incidentally, Tetiana once had to sing this difficult part when she was seven months pregnant! Thus Tetiana’s daughter Maria, now almost two years old, visited the opera stage well before she was born.
Iryna VEZHNEVETS was destined to embody the figure of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth of Valois in Verdi’s opera, Don Carlos. Elizabeth was not only an operatic heroine but also a historical person, the third wife of King Philip II of Spain. According to the opera’s plot, which follows the true historical peripeteia, she was hopelessly in love with her husband’s son by his previous marriage. It goes without saying that this made her life at court a hellish torment. Such qualities as femininity, sensitivity, charming weakness, and readiness to surrender to her own emotions are inherent in not only Queen Elizabeth but also in Iryna Vezhnevets, who played her character on the opera stage. Naturally, Iryna does not come from Henry II’s family, nor does she decide the destiny of Europe, as her operatic heroine does. Yet, it is beyond doubt that something unites these two women: both of them live according to their feelings and have to struggle for their personal happiness and a place in the sun. But the singer’s life story is free of the capricious vagaries that dogged the queen. Iryna deeply loves her daughter Nastia and, by force of her nature, would never agree to sacrifice her family happiness to any national interests. There is still another factor that amazingly continues the sequence of coincidences. Ms. Vezhnevets is well known and respected in Spain. She is always a welcome guest there, very often (almost annually) tours that country, and has a good command of Spanish. Today, Iryna Vezhnevets’ name is better known abroad, and the area of her tours comprises fifteen something countries. Incidentally, there is every reason to hope that Don Carlos will see the footlights of Kyiv’s stage in this season too.
Hennady VASHCHENKO has recently appeared before the audiences in the part of the undaunted Emperor Napoleon in the premiere of Sergei Prokofiev’s War and Peace. He also sang this part on a tour of Switzerland. All this was so successful that, from now on, Hennady is likely to be the permanent performer of the role of Napoleon. Astonishingly, the life stories of the singer and the historical character show some striking coincidences. Both of them at first showed a desire for a military career. But Hennady sang even in the army. His military service was inseparably linked with music: he served at the Kyiv Military Musical Company. But this was not the end of the singer’s virtual military career. Before entering the National Opera, Hennady had a vast experience with stage performances because he worked at the Ukrainian Police Song and Dance Ensemble for seven and a half years. One can say that Hennady is a strong personality. The part of Napoleon has just recently entered his repertoire. So First Lieutenant Vashchenko made a breathtaking jump in his career, being immediately promoted to not just a general but emperor general. Now, as the plot requires, he has to kick away the cannon ball that has landed at his feet, for the monarch is too exalted a person to bend down. Yet, it is dangerous to play Napoleon too deeply, for you can really begin to believe in your own exclusiveness, and this could lead to certain clinical consequences. Let us hope this will not threaten Vashchenko. All we know for sure is that Hennady is not going to seclude himself on St. Helena anytime in the foreseeable future.
