Old productions are falling in decay, their titles disappearing from billboards, and few new ones appear. Contemporary compositions could put on record as rarities. A number of scores are shelved for years or collecting dust in the authors’ home archives. Vasyl TURKEVYCH, literary director of the National Opera, journalist, author of the librettos of the ballets Rusalonka, Demon, Symphony Fantastique , and of the new opera Boyarynia , comments on the current situation and how to get out of this crisis.
TURKEVYCH: There is a critical situation with the Ukrainian repertoire in all our six companies, with three or four Ukrainian titles on their billboards; some opera houses have none. More often than not, it is Natalka Poltavka, A Zaporozhzhian Cossack beyond the Danube, and Taras Bulba. Well, perhaps Naimycha [based on Taras Shevchenko’s Serf Woman], but then there is only terra incognita. We didn’t get into this trouble overnight. The sad fact remains that the situation has taken shape over the past decade. While previously every company would stage a modern composition every season (it was a must), now we have companies that haven’t staged a single Ukrainian opera in ten years. We’ve discarded the practice of working with contemporary composers. Vitaly Hubarenko’s talent, for example, revealed itself in the Kyiv Opera. He wrote five operas for our company and all were staged here. Our renditions also made Heorhy Maiboroda’s name. Our repertoire included his Milana, Taras Shevchenko, Yaroslav the Wise, and Arsenal. Now we have only one modern composer on the repertory: Yevhen Stankovych, author of the ballets Vikings and Christmas Eve. In fact, he is the only composer staged by Ukrainian companies, not because the managers are so fond of him, but because he knows how to defend his interests and has organizing talent. Not so long ago, the Veriovka Choir staged a concert version of folk opera Tsvit Paporoti [Fern Blossom]. Who else can boast such success?
Yet, there is another modern Ukrainian composer, Myroslav Skoryk. His Moses premiered at the Lviv Opera three years ago.
TURKEVYCH: This opera appeared on the Lviv company’s billboard not on their initiative or that of the Composers’ Union or the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, but because it was a special commission from the Vatican. Skoryk’s dream would have never come true if the Catholic Church hadn’t paid the bills. The premiere was dated to coincide with Pope John Paul II’s official visit to Ukraine. The Lviv public should thank the Vatican for that generous gift and that they now have modern composer in the repertoire, no thanks to the Ministry of Culture. Personally I am amazed and alarmed by the ministry’s stand. What will be left our of our operatic and ballet art after the current cultural leadership? Of late, I can think of only one modern rendition: Kolodub’s opera The Poet staged in Kharkiv. An excellent production, popular with the public and critics. Too bad our company refused to stage it.
Why don’t they want The Poet at the National Opera?
TURKEVYCH: The art board decided that it doesn’t meet the National Opera’s repertoire standards.
Yury Shevchenko is writing a ballet score for your company. What is it about?
TURKEVYCH: It’s a children’s ballet based on Carlo Collodi’s Le avventure di Pinocchio and Aleksey Tolstoy’s version The Golden Key, meaning that it will have very little to do with the Ukrainian mentality. Actually, the same is true of Stankovych’s Vikings, where the plot mentions fleetingly the love story of Yaroslav the Wise’s daughter Elizabeth (Yelisaveta) and Harald III of Norway [Harald Hardraada]. There is little Ukrainian about the ballet and I should mention that the Vikings was sponsored by the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish embassies.
I ask myself, Where are all our modern Ukrainian compositions? Why aren’t they staged by today’s Ukrainian companies? What is the attitude of the ministry of culture? Questions, but no answers. I think that the national repertoire will remain in oblivion unless the ministry embarks on a purposeful and clearly defined policy of reviving our national operatic art (here I mean classics as well as modern authors). Oleksandr Kostin wrote the excellent opera Roksolana ten years ago and hasn’t been able to have it staged. I could give you many such examples.
Why do you think our opera houses are reluctant to stage modern composers?
TURKEVYCH: The reason is simple. None of our companies is working for Ukrainian art, but for their cosmopolitan interests, trying to please foreign audiences. All their creative plans are adjusted to foreign tour schedules and what the impresarios want, in other words, productions that are interesting to foreign audiences. The Ukrainian audience is thus pushed to the background or totally disregarded. Under the Soviets (I’m not a Soviet apologist, God forbid!), apart from “dated” productions (I mean those staged to mark certain official dates and anniversaries), there were also modern compositions, like Hubarenko’s Nizhnist [Tenderness] and Viy [based on Gogol’s fantasy known in the West as Revenge of the Vampire and Mask of the Demon], works marked by a high cultural standard, great examples of Ukrainian art. And there are so many works to choose from. I’ve counted over 100 operas by Ukrainian composers that could be added to the repertoire tomorrow. Some have to be edited, meaning they can’t be staged using the original score. The Donetsk Opera, for example, plans Dankevych’s Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the libretto has been revised. Apart from several operas by Heorhy Maiboroda that would look rather situational today, he has great works such as Taras Shevchenko and Taras Bulba. They are perfectly fit for the stage. Why not stage them? I can’t explain this. Perhaps because such productions don’t fit in with their foreign tour programs.
There is the big problem of lack of good stage directors. Iryna Molostova is gone and she had a gift for dramatic musical productions. Many of her works are still in the repertoire and they simply don’t age. Who is there to make good new productions? Also, it is true that young singers are not eager to perform in Ukrainian productions.
TURKEVYCH: There should no wishing or being reluctant to do things at a company. The National Opera has a certain policy. If a singer doesn’t want to play in a performance, he quits and joins another company, making sure his preferences are included in the contract. Our company is sustained by taxpayer money, not by the cast’s likes and dislikes. If you work for a troupe, you’re supposed to abide by the company’s plans. If the management says you will sing in this or that opera, you do just that. Another thing is whether that opera is good for your voice. I hear some of the National Opera’s cast say they don’t want to sing in Ukrainian. I don’t understand this. Surprisingly, such stunts are regarded by some of the cast as acts of heroism and such individuals are considered as taking their principled stand.
Yes, stage directors are a painful problem, especially in opera houses. We badly need individuals like Iryna Molostova, so we look for them everywhere, we even invite foreigners to Kyiv, but I believe that even the most gifted stage director from abroad won’t cope with a Ukrainian opera effectively, because he is not aware of our mentality and national coloration. Therefore, Ukrainian compositions must be staged by Ukrainian directors.
We haven’t discussed an important aspect, the process of writing a new opera or ballet. A large composition takes months if not years. Who can guarantee that will be staged? How is the composer to live during that time and afterward?
TURKEVYCH: Previously we had a program whereby we purchased works from composers, we had allocations from the ministry’s budget. And we held contests. Every company could commission a composer, after agreeing the project with the ministry of culture. Now the officials in charge of culture seem to have forgotten all about this practice. It’s true that we have a difficult economic situation. Adding a new ballet or opera to the repertoire costs a hundred thousand hryvnias.
Granted, but the title of your company, the National Opera of Ukraine, implies that you must stage Ukrainian productions. Now your billboards read...
TURKEVYCH: Yes, they read that we have only three Ukrainian classical works.
And they need updating, don’t they?
TURKEVYCH: Absolutely. Taras Bulba, A Zaporozhzhian Cossack beyond the Danube, and Natalka Poltavka have to be updated. Meanwhile, we hear about the absence of a national repertoire, and that it is supposed to be why Ukrainian authors are not staged by the company. Untrue. We have good works. I have prepared a collection titled 100 Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Libretti, but I can’t arrange for its publication. It includes works staged by the company. So we have enough material to work with, but we need stage directors and conductors with a new spirit, so they can get the management interested in adding Ukrainian performances to the repertoire.
When do you expect Vitaly Kyreiko’s Boyarynia [The Boyar Woman] with your libretto to appear onstage?
TURKEVYCH: Hard to say. Vitaly Kyreiko wrote an excellent score for Lesia Ukrainka’s dramatic poem and I’m sure it would be an excellent addition to the repertoire. This poem is a less known part of Ukrainka’s poetic heritage and it has a dramatic history. She wrote it in 1910. During Soviet times, any mention of it was taboo, as the censors read between the lines and saw it as a threat to the system. I believe that it would be hard to find a better operatic plot in Ukrainian literature to understand our national roots and spirit. Believe me, I say that Kyreiko’s opera is great not because I wrote the libretto, but because his music is truly interesting and original. I address the idea to the management of all six opera houses of Ukraine, I can help them remember old and new productions. It’s high time we paid serious attention to the Ukrainian repertoire — and not only the National Opera as the leading company, but also to all its counterparts in this country.
Editor’s Note: The Day believes that Vasyl Turkevych has broached a serious and extremely topical subject. We invite our readers to join in the discussion and share their views on Ukrainian classics and modern composers at the national stage.
