“All that keeps our artists here is interesting work”
The National Opera of Ukraine is completing its 138th season
A gala concert was held last Sunday to mark the end of the season at the National Opera of Ukraine whose leading artists performed a program that included popular operatic arias, fragments of ballets from the international and national repertoires — the theater’s true hallmarks — as well as novelties of the past season. Participating in the concert were symphony orchestra musicians, the chorus, opera and ballet soloists Maria Stefiuk, Roman Maiboroda, Lydia Zabiliata, Valentyn Pyvovarov, Svitlana Dobronravova, Taras Shtonda, Anzhelina Shvachka, Serhiy Mahera, Tetiana Anisimova, Dmytro Popov, Olena Filipyeva, Serhiy Sydorsky, Yaroslav Salenko, Anna Dorosh, Maksym Chepyk, and other singers and dancers. Alternately wielding the orchestra conductor’s baton were Volodymyr Kozhukhar, Ivan Hamkalo, Allin Vlasenko, Mykola Diadiura, Alla Kulbaba, and Oleksiy Baklan.
Sunday’s program can be called the season’s artistic report. What can audiences, critics, and artists say about the past season? The management is optimistically trumpeting the theater’s successes. But is everything really so rosy in Ukraine’s premier operatic troupe?
“At the Moscow International Ballet Competition last autumn the Kyiv ballet school proved that it is one of the leaders,” National Opera general manager Petro CHUPRYNA told The Day. “Seven artists from our theater won top prizes, including the Grand Prix, three gold, two silver, and one bronze medals. It was the first ‘star shower’ of this magnitude for one theater in the 10-year history of this high-profile competition. The success of our dancers is proof that Kyiv is becoming a ballet trendsetter.
“We have revised our repertory policy and are trying to strike a balance between the productions of national and world repertoires. Today, there are almost 50 ballets and operas on the theater’s roster. One of our company’s successes is the premiere of the operas Moses by Myroslav Skoryk and Manon Lescaut by Giacomo Puccini, the updated version of Mykola Lysenko’s Natalka Poltavka, and the ballets Le Nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Francis Poulenc’s Aubade, Serge Lifar’s restored masterpiece.
“All these productions caused quite a ripple among audience members. It is very important that after a lengthy interval we managed to raise funds and stage Skoryk’s Moses. This production, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was timed to the 150th birth anniversary of Ivan Franko. I am glad that various foreign diplomats not only regularly visit our theater but also help us organize tours and stage new productions. For example, the US and Italian embassies, in conjunction with the Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine, helped us produce the famous opera Manon Lescaut: it was staged by the Italian director Italo Nunziata and conducted by the American musician Keri-Lynn Wilson, while our artists sang all the parts.
The French embassy helped us produce the one-act ballet Aubade staged by Serge Lifar’s pupil Olivier Pate-a first for the National Opera. This occurred during the 6th International Serge Lifar Ballet Competition. This year the ballet troupe toured Spain, Portugal, and Italy. After the annual vacation in October, the opera troupe will go on its first grand tour of Japan. There will be 60 performances, including 34 of Turandot and 26 of Aida. A definite highlight of the season was the recent ballet festival in memory of Anatoliy Shekera. For the first time, the Shekera Prize, named in honor of this legendary Ukrainian choreographer, was conferred on Tanja Vujsic- Todorovska, the prima ballerina of the Macedonian Opera and Ballet House. This event was a true feast of ballet.
“Next season we plan to put on the operas Boyarynia by Vitaliy Kyreiko and Yaroslav the Wise by Heorhiy Maiboroda, the ballets Heavenly Mirrors by Mykhailo Chemberdzhy and The Master and Margarita. This Bulgakov novel will be interpreted in the language of dance and plasticity by the St. Petersburg-based choreographer David Avdysh. The company’s art ‘portfolio’ contains a few other interesting projects that we will reveal once the 139th season starts.”
On the other hand, the theater’s chief producer Dmytro HNATIUK is not so sanguine. He says there are only 58 soloists in the opera troupe. “In fact, they are full-time artists on paper only, they don’t work at full capacity,” the producer says with obvious pain in his voice. “None of the productions have three casts, which means there is no reserve. Only four or five singers work actively. The theater lacks basses, baritones, mezzo sopranos, and tenors. We have a surplus of sopranos, who appear on stage once a month at best. They have no work to do and are losing their skills.
“There is a shortage of dramatic sopranos and tenors. I think that Tetiana Anisimova and Dmytro Popov are overburdened. They are young, and if they keep straining their voices, there may be serious consequences in the future. The sudden death of the troupe’s premier singer Mykola Shopsha, who sang the entire range of bass parts, not only in Ukrainian operas, was a serious blow to the theater. Now we’ll have to look for a soloist. I am very upset by the fact that as soon as our singers spread their wings, they try to find a way to go abroad. Today, we have no levers other than interesting work to keep our artists. The bottom line is: we are grooming talents, but foreign impresarios are using the fruits of our work.”
Music critics note that compared to 15-20 years ago, clear progress has been made in today’s repertory policy. Be that as it may, the theater is beset with problems. First of all, we need updated versions of legendary productions, not just cosmetic alterations of Ukrainian classics. Stage direction is also a weak spot. Thus far, the National Opera of Ukraine is national in name only, for there is very little Ukrainian repertoire on the billboards. Gone too are the illustrious personalities who used to draw audiences. So it is too early to speak about the theater’s renaissance, but one can derive some comfort from the fact that the company is not floundering but moving forward, however slowly.
