Italian Opera Singers Prefer Luhansk

Along with the Russian and Ita lian schools, specialists rank the Ukrainian symphony school among the best in the world. This is why the cooperation of the Luhansk Symphony Orchestra with its Italian colleagues is quite natural. Last year the Italians had a chance to see for themselves the virtuoso performance of Luhansk musicians. The orchestra toured half the country and gathered a host of admirers not only among the classical music fans but also among specialists. And they decided to continue their cooperation. So the new project has been launched— the exclusive international tour of the Luhansk Symphony Orchestra, performing with the famous Italian soloists of the La Scala and Metropolitan Opera theaters and headed by Italian conductor Francesco Ledda, who has been an impresario for years, came to Luhansk a couple of days before the concert and worked with the orchestra twice a day. He praised the brass and called the violas’ performance topnotch. The mutual understanding with the musicians helped to fully prepare their part of the program.

Metropolitan Opera soloists Maria Argiracopulos (soprano) and Carlo Curami (tenor) of La Scala arrived in Luhansk only a day before the performance. Still, only two rehearsals were enough for the orchestra and the soloists to get into tune. Luhansk residents who attended the first full-house performance were able to hear the famous Tosca in Italian and enjoyed the live contact with the Italian opera culture.

The Luhansk Symphony Orchestra together with the Italian musicians will stage three more performances in the oblast. They will go on tour in Ukraine and Russia, and on April 23 the Luhansk Opera will begin a return tour to Italy.