Premiere Season

The National Opera has a very rich repertoire. On Jan. 27 the theater premiered Myroslav Skoryk’s opera Moses and is now inviting audiences to the premiere of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro on March 1. What other new works will spectators be seeing this season? We addressed this question to Petro CHUPRYNA, general manager of the National Opera of Ukraine.

“First of all, I would like to thank your newspaper for a thorough analysis of the premiere of Moses. We consider this opera a certain rite of passage. Indeed, for a long time we did not stage the works of contemporary Ukrainian composers, and now we are trying to correct mistakes in our repertorial policy. I always favor constructive criticism, because it is indispensable for an artistic collective. We were very enthusiastic about Moses and hope the production has a long and happy life on our stage.

The next premiere is timed to the 250th birth anniversary of Wofgang Amadeus Mozart. UNESCO has declared 2006 the Year of Mozart, and we could not possibly bypass this momentous event. The ballet The Marriage of Figaro is a totally new piece. Based on the plot of the well known comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, the ballet only uses the overture of Mozart’s eponymous opera. The other musical parts consist of the composer’s early symphonies (Nos. 21 to 34) and serenades. Our conductor Oleksiy Baklan put all these fragments together into one score. The libretto was written by the art specialist Yuriy Stanishevsky and the choreographer Viktor Yaremenko.

The audience will see a comic ballet staged in the neoclassical style with some modern elements. The artist Maria Levytska designed the dazzling stage settings. The production involves the leading dancers of two companies, including Olena Filipyeva, Serhiy Sydorsky, Maksym Motkov, Ihor Bulychov, Tetiana Holiakova, Dmytro Kliavin, Mykola Mikheyev, and others. On March 2 our ballet troupe and orchestra will go on a two-week tour of Switzerland, and foreign audiences will also be able to see The Marriage of Figaro.

In late May we are going to stage the premiere of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Manon Lescaut, a joint Italian- Ukrainian project. In mid-June we will produce a ballet to the music of Mykhailo Chemberzhi (tentatively called Mirrors of Heaven), and in mid-September we will present a concert version of the opera Boyarynia, which Vitaliy Kyreiko is composing specially for our theater. As you can see, we are trying to strike a balance between the classics and works by modern composers.”

“On Sunday the National Opera hosted a gala concert entitled ‘I Will Return to Ukraine.’ How did you manage to bring together the most famous and successful artists and musicians, who seldom perform in their homeland?”

“It is no secret that the mastery of Ukrainian performers is highly esteemed abroad, and many of our compatriots sing and dance in the most prestigious concert halls and theaters, bringing fame to Ukraine. Of course, it is not easy to coordinate celebrities’ schedules, but we succeeded. The concert will highlight the best of the best. For instance, the acclaimed bass Anatoliy Kocherha and soprano Liudmyla Shemchuk will come from Austria, the delightful tenor Volodymyr Kuzmenko and the legendary pianist Volodymyr Krainev from Germany, the celebrated baritone Andriy Shkurhan from Poland, and the virtuoso violinist Dmytro Tkachenko from Great Britain. Audiences will also see the top ballet dancers Denys Matviyenko, Olena Filipyeva, Viktor Ishchuk, Natalia Matsak, and other artists of our theater. Also taking part in the program is the Dumka Chorus conducted by Yevhen Savchuk. The singers will be accompanied by the National Philharmonic’s symphony orchestra conducted by Mykola Diadiura. Incidentally, the initiator and artistic director of this project is Oleksandr Bystrushkin, who heads the Main Directorate of Culture at the Kyiv City Administration, made strenuous efforts to encourage our famous compatriots to visit their homeland and delight Ukrainian audiences with their mastery. Unfortunately, the singer Viktoria Lukyanets could not come over this time, but she promised to visit Kyiv as soon as there is a gap in her touring schedule.”

“The theater’s plans include a visit to Japan this season. Are you going?”

“We have already signed a contract that our opera troupe will tour Japan from Sept. 20. We will stage 53 productions (32 of Aida and 21 of La Traviata). Although the Japanese are familiar with our dancers and some of our theater’s singers, they will be seeing our large-scale opera productions for the first time. A total of 175 people — singers and orchestra musicians — are going on this tour. Tickets for our shows will cost up to $170.”

“Mr. Chupryna, your theater has great plans, but judging by the February and March billboard, you have totally forgotten about your young spectators. There’s not a single show for children in these two months. Why is this?”

“I’d like to apologize to our young spectators, but we do not stage matinees due to our heavy rehearsal schedule. We promise to correct this. No later than April we will be staging our best productions in the morning so that our little opera and ballet lovers can see them.”