Vasyl TURKEVYCH: “The Theater Must Be National In Name and in Spirit”

The theater is starting a two-month recess after its 137th season. On August 26-31 the celebrated company will go on a tour of the Crimea, where Kyiv performers have not been for the past 20 years.

“Traditionally, we would end the season with Hulak-Artemovsky’s play A Zaporozhian Cossack beyond the Danube and a gala concert of the leading National Opera soloists, who performed parts of the season’s most successful productions. Young performers shared the stage with maestros. The gala concert drew a full house because these kinds of performances feature the best of the theater’s repertoire, and this always generates tremendous public interest.

“For the end of the season a group of our young dancers returned from Moscow, where they performed triumphantly at the 10th International Ballet Competition, from which Ukrainians walked away with almost all the first prizes in various categories,” says Vasyl TURKEVYCH, head of the literature section at the National Opera. “Our young people returned to Kyiv with eight prizes, including a Grand Prix won by Denys Matviyenko, one bronze, three gold, and two silver medals, and a diploma. This is proof of the superior level and excellence of our troupe and the creative environment in which the young performers work, because it is in the theater that they can achieve a high artistic level. While they are still students in dance schools and academies, dancers first appear onstage at the Kyiv Opera in the corps de ballet and gradually master their future profession: if they have talent, they start from small parts and then become soloists or lead dancers. In our ballet troupe every dancer has a chance to show his or her worth, quickly complete novice stage, and become an artist.

“At the start of the season, producer Dmytro Hnatiuk staged a restored version of Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazepa (conductor V. Kozhukhar, set design by M. Levytska). Our theater has returned to the original version. We perform it in Russian, the language in which the composer wrote it. Mazepa was previously staged eight times in Kyiv. This production is interesting in that we have added drama to the play and the protagonist, Hetman Mazepa. He is portrayed not only as a legendary figure, but primarily as a person with human strengths and weaknesses. The young singers showed themselves to good effect in the play. I’d like to point out the contribution of the talented soloist, Oksana Dyka, who performed Maria’s part brilliantly.

“A major event in musical art has been the premiere of the ballet oratorio Kyiv Frescos by Ivan Karabyts, which was staged in our theater 20 years after it was written. Unfortunately, the author never lived to see this emotional moment. Originally, Kyiv Frescos were supposed to be staged by Stefan Turchak, but because of the illness and subsequent death of this outstanding conductor it was mothballed for two decades. Only the orchestra parts have been preserved in our theater’s archives. The sheet music was restored by Karabyts’s disciple Artem Roshchenko, and the production was put together by the composer’s son, conductor Kyrylo Karabyts, choirmaster Levko Venedyktov, choreographer Alla Rubina, and art director Maria Levytska. ‘Kyiv Frescos’ marked the return to our theater’s best traditions of performing plays by contemporary Ukrainian composers on the stage of the National Opera.

“For ballet lovers, choreographer Viktor Lytvynov staged a new interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. The play’s producer made substantial modifications to the play’s libretto and included a very interesting ballet fragment — a Ukrainian national dance. Although the composer originally included dances from various nations in his play, we added a Ukrainian dance, which has meshed beautifully with the plot (the music was borrowed from Mazepa). Peter Tchaikovsky loved Ukraine and was familiar with its folk music, and we believe that the Ukrainian dance has blended organically with the Nutcracker.

“The last premiere of the season is Charles Gounod’s opera Faust, staged by the Italian director Mario Corradi (conductor Volodymyr Kozhukhar, choirmaster Levko Venedyktov, set design by Andriy Zlobin). Despite the fact that the modernization of the play led to many arguments (the production both improves on the original play and conflicts with the ideas and content of Gounod’s opera, and will be revised), we believe that the experiment was a success. It is interesting and has the right to live onstage. Most of the play’s cast is made up of young people, and the singers have coped with this difficult philosophical work.”

“What will you show to the Crimeans and guests of the peninsula?”

“It’s an open secret that in the past decades our theater usually focused on foreign, not Ukrainian, audiences in our tour programs. We have toured extensively in various countries and performed in the world’s best opera houses. Most of our tour routes were headed in the western direction. Now the situation is changing. Foreign audiences are a good thing, and we will continue working in that direction, but we should not forget about Ukrainian audiences either. For example, we haven’t been to the Crimea for nearly 20 years. Therefore, we will embark on a tour of Yalta and Simferopol with trepidation: How will the Crimeans receive us? We will put on Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida and an extensive concert program with the participation of our theater’s vocal and ballet maestros. Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism is helping us to organize this concert tour.”

“When will the theater begin its 138th season? Do you plan any new renditions of Ukrainian classics? After all, revised versions of such plays as Taras Bulba , A Zaporozhian Cossack beyond the Danube, and Natalka Poltavka, are long overdue. Will you be putting on plays by contemporary Ukrainian composers?”

“We will invite spectators for the season’s opening on September 14. Traditionally, we will stage Lysenko’s Taras Bulba. Granted, the classical repertoire of the National Opera needs updating, and not just its set design and costumes. We need new productions so that the plays don’t seem archaic and will attract a wider audience. First we will put on a new production of Natalka Poltavka, followed by Taras Bulba, and A Zaporozhian Cossack beyond the Danube. The theater has to be national in name and in spirit. Regrettably, for a long time we did not pay special attention to this issue. Today we are trying to follow the national policy declared by the new government by staging plays from the Ukrainian repertoire. This season we started working on Vitaliy Kyreyko’s opera Boyarynia, an adaptation of Lesia Ukrainka’s eponymous poem. The premiere is expected in December.

“Every theater has its calling card. The Bolshoi’s calling card is Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, and ours is Mykola Lysenko’s Taras Bulba. Yet the production has to be updated. We have plans to put on Dankevych’s opera Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and perhaps this will become a present to the audience, timed to coincide with the celebrated hetman’s jubilee in 2007.

“The ballet troupe is working on two ballets by contemporary composers. Yuriy Shevchenko has composed music for the ballet Pinocchio, and Mykhailo Chemberzhi has composed music for a play that will recount the birth of the ballet genre (we haven’t yet decided on specific titles for the ballets). For the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth we plan to stage a ballet based on his music, and perhaps we will use one of the composer’s operas.”

“Reorganization is underway in your theater. This is a very painful process involving redundancies that will affect the performers’ lives. How will the troupe’s structure change in the next season? In the West, for example, opera theaters hire only fulltime orchestra musicians, choir singers, corps de ballet, technical personnel, and administration, and invite soloists for individual projects. What solution will the National Opera choose?”

“Because of the new Theater Law recently passed in parliament, all of the nation’s theaters have to undergo drastic changes. The new law obliges theater administrations to sign five- year contracts with all actors. This allows the administration to take a closer look at the actor, analyze his or her work, and either extend or terminate the contract. Not everyone likes these innovations, but this is the only way if the theater wants to have a good troupe. Actors must always keep in form and report to the artistic review committee every five years and prove that they are fit to work on the nation’s leading operatic stage. Our theater currently employs 1,200 persons, including technical personnel and actors. We have a brilliant repertoire of over 50 operas and ballets. No other theater in Ukraine has such an extensive and varied repertoire. It requires the mobilization of creative forces and replacement of performers. That is, a balance of quality and quantity is necessary.”

“The National Opera’s repertoire is indeed tremendous, but plays, such as Shostakovich’s Katerina Izmaylova, are very rarely staged. Why is this?”

“We just discussed that at the theater’s last artistic council. We have to use the troupe’s potential in a more dynamic and optimal manner. We should not be putting on a play once a month. For the actors to keep in form and the play to turn out nicely, it has to be put on at least three times in one season. We must treat our repertoire in a rational manner.”