They returned so that others will not leave

Last Sunday the National Opera of Ukraine hosted a high-profile concert featuring Ukrainian vocalists, ballet dancers, and musicians who have made successful careers abroad. Opening the concert entitled “To Ukraine I Will Return,” its author Oleksandr Bystrushkin, who heads the Main Culture and Arts Department at Kyiv City Hall, said: “Today is the first time in Kyiv that we have managed to gather on the same stage a host of prominent performers who make Ukraine famous with their art, performing on the world’s most prestigious stages. We are proud of their talent, but we would like them to remember that they have their native land and home where they are loved and awaited. Organized by Kyiv City Hall, the project ‘To Ukraine I Will Return’ will be repeated annually to give Kyiv’s theater-going public an opportunity to enjoy the talent and mastery of our famous compatriots — stars of international caliber.”

It was truly a parade of stars. Directed by Anatoliy Solovyanenko, the concert opened with an overture to the opera Taras Bulba, performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic (conductor Mykola Diadiura). The audience was electrified by a compelling performance of Andriy Shkurhan, who came to Kyiv from the Czech Republic and sang arias from the operas Nazar Stodolia and Don Juan.

The Kyiv audience heard for the first time a concert fantasy based on the motifs of Hulak- Artemovsky’s opera Zaporozhian Cossack Beyond the Danube, which Oleksandr Bezborodko composed exclusively for the violinist Dmytro Tkachenko (Great Britain), who performed it with genuine inspiration and virtuosic mastery. Music lovers delighted in the performance by Volodymyr Kuzmenko (Germany). The audience responded with thunderous applause to his performance of the arias of Kalaf from the opera Turandot and Andriy from Zaporozhian Cossack Beyond the Danube, which he sang together with Liudmyla Shemchuk. Incidentally, last year Liudmyla met the man of her dreams in Donetsk and returned from Austria to perform in Ukraine.

Dancers staged a no less dizzying performance. Prima dancers of the Kyiv Opera troupe Yelena Filipyeva and Serhiy Sidorsky gave their trademark performance of Carmen Suite by Bizet and Shchedrin, which received high acclaim from the famous ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. That many Ukrainian dancers perform on stages across the globe is evidence of the Ukrainian ballet school’s leading positions in world choreography. Notably, our dance maestros are strong in both classical and modern repertories. Suffice it to say that soloists of the National Opera of Ukraine walked away with eight top prizes from the recent International Ballet Competition in Moscow. Among the winners were participants of this concert: Denys and Anastasia Matviyenko, Natalia Matsak, Ivan Kozlov, and Yaroslav Salenko.

The famous pianist Volodymyr Kraynev flew over from Hanover especially for the concert in Kyiv and gave a fantastic performance of Chopin’s Scherzo. The appearance onstage of the legendary bass singer Anatoliy Kocherha raised a cheer from the audience. He performed the aria of Aleco from the same-titled opera by Rachmaninoff. The concert ended with a performance by the choir Dumka, which sang A Prayer for Ukraine. The other performers onstage and spectators sang along.

“The concert evoked mixed feelings in me,” said singer Gizella Tsypola. “On this stage I saw performers whom I know very well. With many of them we were partners in plays, which is why I know what they are really capable of, no matter how they performed today, better or worse. I was glad to hear Anatoliy Kocherha. Volodymyr Kuzmenko gave a wonderful performance. He has made tremendous progress as a vocalist. I am grateful to the organizers for inviting those of our performers who rarely appear in Kyiv. Still the question as to why they left needs to be answered. For example, Kocherha left after Stefan Turchak passed away. He decided that he would not accomplish anything without a good conductor. I doubt it that Anatoliy Kocherha’s career would turn out as successful and luminous as it is now, had he remained in Ukraine. Unfortunately, talented people are not treasured in Ukraine.”

“The concert ‘To Ukraine I Will Return’ has a nostalgic title, and many spectators received it with trepidation,” said Volodymyr Rozhok, rector of the Tchaikovsky National Musical Academy of Ukraine. “I felt proud, since many concert participants are graduates of our academy. Dmytro Tkachenko is a marvelous musician. This year we invited him to give classes at our Violin Department. Half a year ago I was honored to attend the Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition in London, which is directed by Tkachenko. I consider Volodymyr Kraynev a wonderful pianist and pedagogue. He is doing a great deal to discover new talents, and holds a piano competition and festival named after himself. He brings brilliant musicians to perform in Ukraine, and teaches many of our musicians in his class in Germany. I think such concerts have to be staged regularly. I talked to many performers, and they admit that they are prepared to give performances in Ukraine and do so with great pleasure.”

“Such concerts should be broadcast during the Eurovision contest to make our performers known beyond Ukraine,” says conductor Ivan Hamkalo. “I would like to see our maestros on the cast of the National Opera, but this is a complex issue. After all, our theater cannot afford to pay them what they earn abroad. We talk of Kyiv’s aspirations to become a European capital, but we are a long way off from European living standards. Just compare how singers and musicians live here and there. The performers have left because they saw no future for themselves in Ukraine. Abroad they have earned a name for themselves, not to mention the money. They work hard but are rewarded adequately for their work. We have to create conditions for creative people to enable them to work normally in Ukraine instead of trying to find a better life abroad.”