Non-Stop Arias
Kyiv’s Scholars’ House is known as one of major centers for the capital’s music life. It hosts various concerts, press conferences, Wagner Society meetings, etc. But few people know that it was the Scholars House that became a launch pad for many stars of Ukrainian academic singing. Viktoriya Lukyanets, Olha Mykytenko, Taras Shtonda, et. al. began their careers there. Recently another new name has been discovered here. Under the support of the house administration the Ancora la bella opera! [More fine operas!] concert was held here, introducing a promising duet, Natalia Maksymchuk (mezzo soprano) and Natalia Dzhenkova (piano).
The concert’s program included only opera arias. In our time suggesting the public opera fragments was rather a risky step. Inexperienced Kyiv audience is not too well acquainted with the plots of Donizetti, Mascagni, Saint Saens, or Rossini operas, while an opera expert would be horrified at even the thought of singers having to sing arias in both parts of the concert without resting their voices with romances or folk songs. However, it was probably the spirit of adventure special to talented people that prevailed over reason. Two Natalias composed their program proceeding primarily from aesthetic considerations. The result was quite good.
It is hard to imagine an opera lacking an expressive female character, even if as a bit part. The opera’s golden age brought a prima donna to podium along with a composer. For those who go to the opera she played the same role as a model does for a man in the street in the modern world. They idolized her and discussed not only her attire but also every new passage of her vocal part. Depending on their timbre, operatic prima donnas had their scenic specialization. As a rule, the parts of fragile and tender girls, vivacious and inexperienced in love matters, were sung by coloratura sopranos. So, what was left for more low voices, such as mezzo-soprano? Mainly it was parts of passionate femmes fatales, sometimes abandoned by their sweethearts, skillful seducers, and enchantresses in the true sense of the word.
Natalia Maksymchuk’s performance displayed rather completely the full specter of mezzo soprano repertoire: Leonora, Ebolie, Santuzza, Delilah, Cinderella, and, of course, Carmen. Especially interesting was her version of the music by Russian composers. Thus, in Joanna’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans the singer, instead of the traditional warlike character, stressed gentleness and womanhood in Joan of Arc. And Liubasha’s song from Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Tsar’s Bride, which, incidentally, is sung a cappella, received rapt attention from the audience dreamed about by all musicians.
