Contrary to Operatic Canons
March 28 marked the 80th birthday of Dmytro Hnatiuk, the celebrated singer, producer, and people’s artiste of Ukraine
The rise to fame of this outstanding performer is inextricably linked with the Kyiv Opera House, on whose stage he sang wonderful dramatic parts and brilliantly performed Ukrainian and world classics. Owing to the talent of Dmytro Hnatiuk, performances by contemporary composers have premiered on the stage of the National Opera, which has been Hnatiuk’s home for the past 54 years. His rich voice has been lauded in thousands of reviews, and he has been the idol of several generations of opera lovers in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“I am happy that my voice has found appreciation among many people,” Hnatiuk says. “When you are in love with your country, songs, and people, it gives you strength. There have been different strands in my life.”
“While a person can rarely become a legend in his or her lifetime, Dmytro Mykhailovych [Hnatiuk] became one at the start of his career, contrary to many operatic canons,” says art expert and chief of the literary department at the National Opera of Ukraine Vasyl Turkevych. “He arrived on the Kyiv stage from the conservatory not as a novice, but as a mature singer with a strong, beautifully timbred voice. Hnatiuk’s successful debut was not only a result of his brilliant training under the great teacher Ivan Patorzhynsky, but also an expression of a God- given talent that he brought to the heights of the operatic Olympus through his inspired effort.”
Dmytro Hnatiuk was destined to live at the turn of two centuries and millenniums and in different eras. Every Soviet leader without exception admired his voice. In 1946, when he was still a conservatory student, he debuted on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. Among those who applauded the young baritone from the audience were Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin.
“I kept this meeting a secret for a long time, since I knew that I would make many enemies,” Hnatiuk recalls. “Soon rumors began circulating about my performance in Moscow, but my fellow students didn’t believe that it really happened. They only stopped making fun of me when Hryhory Veriovka (art director of the People’s Choir of Ukraine), with whom we performed in Moscow, told Ivan Patorzhynsky about my triumph. Later on in my eventful artistic life I often had occasion to perform in concerts for the leadership, but I never considered myself a ‘nomenklatura’ singer.”
Dmytro Hnatiuk’s baritone was both lyrical and dramatic, depending on the part he was performing. He could change nuances of timbre and switch from the melancholy of the piano to expressive dynamics, especially in operas with a tense psychological drama (Germon in Traviata, Renato in A Masked Ball). In his rendition of the psychologically multifaceted character in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto, Hnatiuk revealed the depth of the composer’s underlying theme and made this work relevant for all time. The singer’s repertoire included parts that have earned him wide recognition: Iago in Othello, di Luna in Il Trovatore, Amonasro in Aida, Valentine in Faust, Mykola in Natalka Poltavka, Ostap in Taras Bulba, Sultan in A Zaporozhian Cossack Beyond the Danube, etc. Hnatiuk played numerous parts from the Ukrainian repertoire: Mylana, Moloda Hvardiya [Young Guard], Arsenal, Zahybel eskadry [Destruction of the Squadron], Persha vesna [First Spring], etc.
Dmytro Hnatiuk worked tirelessly to expand the repertoire of the National Opera by including works by contemporary composers. His opera work represents a golden page in contemporary Ukrainian stage art. In many respects Hnatiuk determined the performance style of several generations of singers, who emulated the operatic master’s nuances. When Hnatiuk felt that the operatic repertoire was too limited for him, he began performing concerts. Dmytro Hnatiuk was instrumental in the birth of Ukrainian concert art. He is known for his unmatched performances of folk songs and romances, raising to new heights compositions by Platon Maiboroda, Oleksandr Bilash, Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky, Stepan Sabodash, whose songs, as performed by Hnatiuk, became widely popular: “Dva koliory” [Two colors], “Ridna maty moya” [My Dear Mother], “Pisnia pro rushnyk” [Song about an Embroidered Towel], “Ochi voloshkovi” [Cornflower Eyes], “Cheremshyna” [Bird Cherry Tree], “Letiat niby chaiky” [Seagulls Are Flying], “Marichka,” “Tsvitut osinni nebesa” [Autumn Sky in Bloom], “Yaseny” [Ash Trees], “Snih na zelenomy lysti” [Snow on Green Leaves], to name only a few.
“Long before he ended his operatic and performing career Dmytro Hnatiuk became a producer,” Turkevych says. “In 1975 he debuted as the stage director of the opera Prince Ihor (conductor Volodymyr Kozhukhar, set designer Fedir Nirod). Incidentally, Dmytro Mykhailovych had been singing the main role in this opera for nearly four decades. Proof of the high artistic production level of this extremely complex dramatic opera by Borodin is the fact that it had a long stage life and saw three generations of singers rise to fame in our theater. As an opera producer, Hnatiuk has a keen understanding of vocal techniques, symphonic orchestration, stage and choral culture, and fine art. On the Kyiv stage he produced Tosca, La Traviata, Aida, The Queen of Spades, The Barber of Seville, The Sorochyntsi Fair, War and Peace, etc. Dmytro Hnatiuk’s last production was Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazepa, which premiered before the first round of the presidential elections in Ukraine. Was it a mere accident that this opera about the legendary hetman who sacrificed his life for Ukrainian independence was staged at such a decisive moment in Ukraine’s contemporary history? No, it was the maestro’s position. He admitted that it was difficult to stage the opera, and some members of the cast refused to work, seeing political implications in the opera and accusing Hnatiuk of pseudo-patriotism. ‘It was important for me to influence the young people, and it was the potential of the young singers that I based Mazepa on,’ Dmytro Mykhailovych said. The opera featured wonderful performances by Oksana Dyka and Taras Shtonda, both of whom are now the troupe’s leading singers.”
Dmytro Hnatiuk was not indifferent to the decisive events of the Orange Revolution. On the contrary: from day one he joined many performers of the National Opera on Independence Square, addressing millions of Ukrainians who took to the streets to protest against the election fraud. Dmytro Hnatiuk sang “Mnohaya lita” [Long Life] at President Yushchenko’s inauguration concert.
Now Hnatiuk is full of creative plans. Several days ago he returned from Denmark with the Kyiv Opera troupe after a successful season. The Ukrainian singers gave six successful performances of Verdi’s Aida. On March 29 this opera will be performed to mark the 80th jubilee of its producer. Dmytro Hnatiuk has invited all his fans for the March 31 benefit night in Ukrayina Palace, our country’s main stage. The evening’s program is entitled “I Love, Love as in the Years of Youth.” The guest starts will be the opera singers Volodymyr Openko, Oksana Dyka, Taras Shtonda, Volodymyr Hryshko, and the pop singers Taras Petrynenko, Ivan Popovych, Oksana Bilozir, the band Okean Elzy, and others.
The Day’s editors send Dmytro Hnatiuk their heartiest greetings on his 80th birthday and wish him health, creative accomplishments, new and interesting productions, love, and happiness.
