Kyiv vechornytsi in Bucharest

Our neighbors in Romania have once again proven that there is only one step between a grandiose idea and its implementation. Now they are organizing the unique international festival of music performances “Life is Beautiful” for a third time already. The forum’s venue is the Bucharest-based “Ion Dacian” National Operetta Theater. This year theaters from over 10 countries came to Romania to show their art. Ukraine was represented by the Kyiv National Academic Theater of Musical Comedy.

The 10-day festival program featured musicals, concerts, operettas, master classes for children, conferences with leading theater critics, and radio and television programs dedicated to operettas and musicals.

The festival was opened by the premiere of the production The Bat by Johann Strauss II staged by Ion Dacian Theater. Russians presented the musical comedy The Bird Seller by Carl Zeller (staged by the Saint Petersburg-based State Theater of Musical Comedy). The Budapest Theater of Musical Comedy, a bright representative of the neo-Viennese operetta, rejoiced the audience with an interesting modern interpretation of the worldwide famous operetta The Bayadere. Incidentally, among other things, the Hungarians brought three trucks of decorations for this production. Ukrainian theaters can only dream of such a level of technical equipment and possibilities.

The musical program included the Romanian productions Paris, I love you, Roosevelt Square, and Supermarket, as well as a dancing show Tango of Life staffed by the Kyiv Operetta House. This experimental project, staged by the director Bohdan Strutynsky and ballet soloist Maksym Bulhakov, appeared in February 2009 in the Ukrainian theater’s repertoire. The modern Tango of Life via the language of dancing, which shows the strongest human emotions – from love and passion to hatred – tells about the dark and light sides of a megalopolis, which attracts people who come from everywhere like moths to a flame. After the show the American producer Stokker said that Tango of Life is an example of how one can educate with the help of ballet, and bring one’s ideas to the audience with the help of a plastique language.

“We have presented Ukraine on a very good level. [...] First and foremost, the festival is an exchange of experiences: a kind of university where one studies and compares the artistic levels of the performances and theaters. It is worth mentioning that in Europe theaters possess significant technical resources. For drama is an elitist and prestigious art. Unfortunately, there is no such attitude from the government in our country as yet. But, in spite of everything, we felt ourselves full-fledged players on the theater market,” Strutynsky, the artistic director of the Kyiv Operetta House explained.

The festival “Life is Beautiful” included classical works performed by Hungarians, experimental music pieces from the US, German alternative music performed by an orchestra, jazz by a Berlin band, dark cabaret by British performers, Byzantine religious music etc. The festive gala concert was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the “Ion Dacian” National Operetta Theater, which was the chief organizer of the festival. Its stage united the best voices from Romania and other European countries. The Ukrainians greeted Ion Dacian with the famous waltz by Johann Straus Spring Voices, performed by Halyna Hrehorchak. The graduate of the Pyotr Tchaikovsky Kyiv Music Academy (Yevhenia Miroshnychenko’s class) showed true mastery, filigree technique and wonderful singing abilities.

Within the framework of the festival so-called traditional evenings took place, where different countries could share their culture with the audience in a chamber atmosphere. The Ukrainian songs (“Deep Well,” “Know that I have Sinned,” “Yakiv Came to Me” etc.), which according to Oleksandr Dovzhenko are a genius poetic biography of the Ukrainian people, its fathomless soul and glory, were performed by the soloist Liubov Sahat. “Two Colors” by Bilash, Levko’s song from Lysenko’s opera “May Night,” “I Look at the Sky” and other compositions were presented by the singer Oleksandr Chuvpylo. The Romanians were surprised to see that Ukrainians sing well even without microphones. According to Sahat, the audience approached the performers to praise their voices and beauty, and the artistic head of the Ion Dacian Theater managed to sing a few Ukrainian words after a minute’s training. There were also dances that epitomized the dancing culture of Ukraine’s west and east; examples of the ballet art – Kozachok (ballet soloist Sazonova) and Chabany (ballet soloists Yulia Ilchenko, Leonid Kuianov and Vadym Tsurkan), were staged by the classic of Ukrainian choreography Oleksandr Sehal.

A joint project of the Ion Dacian Theater and Milan Academic Theater La Scala, SCENART, was launched. It is aimed at supporting the festival movement and the development of theater in Romania. According to Strutynsky, five million euros were allotted for this program by the European Union. There is a proposal to hold a similar festival in Ukraine in 2012. The demands are high: half of the expenses should be covered by the state, then the rest will be funded by the EU.