Kyiv Opera Star Visits Home Stage
Roman Maiboroda, People’s Artist of Ukraine, soloist with the National Opera of Ukraine, winner of international contests, marked the thirtieth anniversary of his operatic career with a gala concert. He is one of those soloists eagerly praised even by ambitious and celebrated colleagues. As is often the case, the Kyiv public sees just the tip of the iceberg, only a small part of the singer’s creative heritage. He goes on triumphant concert tours abroad, appearing in operas, among them renditions not included in the Kyiv repertory. In Spain, for example, there are five video cassettes on sale with operas starring Maiboroda, including performances at the famous Teatro de Calderon in Madrid.
AХda was one of the first operas he starred in this season, staged in Wroclaw. He has often performed in Spain (Il Trovatore ) and other Verdi operas not staged in Kyiv (Othello, Un ballo in maschera), he has appeared in Falstaff, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, and his repertoire includes Rigoletto, Germont, and Nabucco. Maiboroda can be described as a Verdi singer without exaggeration.
Another important event took place in his creative biography this April. He sang as Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca for the first time in Kyiv. His Scarpia is power incarnate, retaining some nobility and inner integrity. This is the main distinction of Maiboroda’s performance, for other singers prefer to emphasize Scarpia’s hatred and perfidy.
Roman Maiboroda complains that the Kyiv repertory has no worthy place for Ukrainian classics. For some reason Ukrainians do not seem inclined to propagate their operatic music abroad, although Maiboroda’s figure instantly reminds one of Heorhy Maiboroda and his operas Yaroslav the Wise and Taras Shevchenko that would certainly embellish our stage. Talking of the celebrated family tradition, the fourth member of the creative dynasty, Roman’s son Platon, is a choirmaster with the National Opera, shortly to graduate from the National Music Academy as a vocalist.
Roman Maiboroda believes that a singer’s technique comes from his lines, the way he can articulate, his faultless Italian pronunciation. This is what allows him to convey the innermost essence of the operatic image. Timbre and vocal skill, and other vocal tasks then become far more meaningful, acquiring their original notional basis. This unity of word and sound is markedly inherent in Maiboroda’s performances; it forms his creative modus operandi, makes him stand out among his colleagues.
His close attention to the lines and strict adherence to the vocal mode often makes him look like a visiting European star, rather than a product of a Slavic school, especially in Italian operas (e.g., his stage presence, vocal culture). And he is an incredible perfectionist. At the start of his vocal career (he admits himself) Roman Maiboroda was not very good at refined dramatic aspects of his roles. Self-improvement is what must have made the singer a living textbook on the dramatic art.
Regrettably, the theater does not pay enough attention to creative tutelage. There are several staff instructors and consultants at the Bolshoi. Usually, the task is assigned veteran soloists having enough experience to share. Not so long ago, Roman Maiboroda decided to help his younger colleagues and start precisely that kind of creative instruction, which is standard practice at all the leading opera houses. The administration approved. Regrettably, the project was never completed. Obviously, such creative tutelage, thus far nonexistent in Kyiv, would be very instrumental in strengthening the young performers’ creative potential.
Roman Maiboroda is in his prime, and we all hope that, in addition to everything else, he will appear on the Kyiv stage as Griaznoi in The Czar’s Betrothed, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, and the Consul in Madame Butterfly. These operas have long been in the Ukrainian repertory and Maiboroda has long prepared and tested the vocal parts. At the start of the next season we will see and hear him as Ostap in the grand rendition of Taras Bulba. I am sure that we will meet his appearances on stage with standing ovation long afterward.
