Oberammergau is one of the most beautiful spas in the Bavarian Alps with its crystal clear mountain air, unique architecture, fantastic quantity and variety of flowers, and the complete absence of any industry, which is unusual for Europe. A little over 3,000 people live here, but the number of vacationers that come here reaches 30,000. The town is completely dedicated to visitors attracted by the peace and quiet and the picturesque landscapes of this spa.
The town, near which the tragic king Ludwig II built one of his residences (the Bavarian Chateau de Versailles), is famous for its Passion Play, a theatricalized mystery recreating Christ’s Stations of the Cross, which have been taking place in Oberammergau every decade for almost 400 years in thanks to God for averting the disastrous Thirty Years’ War and the dreadful plague that was decimating Medieval Europe. According to legend, Oberammergau was saved by the great piety of its inhabitants.
Christ’s last earthly journey and the last week of His life are recreated in keeping with historical accuracy. The Passion Play is what makes Oberammergau one of the most famous places in Bavaria. One hundred years ago a partially open stage was built for this unique theatre seating 4,500, so that the local residents, who for centuries have executed wood carvings for Catholic churches all over Europe, could participate in staging the grand performance whose text and music were written in the 18th century.
In between performances of the Passion Play, every summer the theater welcomes drama and music groups that eagerly perform here, enriching the cultural program of the Alpine resort center. Since this year is a special one for Germany, which is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Bavarian Kingdom that emerged during the Napoleonic wars, Oberammergau’s festive program includes performances by the National Opera of Ukraine, which the Landgraf concert agency has helped to become popularize in Germany during the last 15 years.
In September 2006 the Kyiv opera troupe was invited to stage one of the best performances of its repertoire — Carmen by Bizet. After the first day of the tour the Muenchner Kurier wrote admiringly that the 200 Ukrainian performers “have brought a real Seville to the Alps, presenting the audience with the gift of an opera performance that would do honor to any theater.”
The tour took place in somewhat extreme conditions. The weather in the Alps is changeable, especially in the autumn, so the stage decorations were assembled and rehearsals were held during breaks from the cold rain. The first performance took place on the open stage. Some people in the audience, knowing the conditions of their theater building, brought sweaters and raincoats, while others brought traveling rugs.
But it was the opera singers, whose costumes were sewn for a sweltering Seville, who had to perform in these difficult conditions. The artists were saved by the dynamic energy of the performance, instilled by the conductor, maestro Volodymyr Kozhukhar, whose “supreme virtuosity” was noted in a final article about our tour by the music critic of the newspaper Garmisch Partenkirchner Tagblatt. The German critic also singled out “the creative dedication of each performer, above all Tetiana Anysymova, who expressed the character of freedom-loving Carmen by her virtuoso vocal and artistic brilliance and thrilled the audience with her beautiful, pliant, and expressive soprano, especially in the upper register.”
We can only be proud of Anysymova, who did not allow the extreme conditions to affect her high performance level, which she has already amply demonstrated both on the Ukrainian stage and during a number of previous tours. She performed with total creativity during the first performance, creating a wonderful prelude for the tour. This mastery was repeated by the other singers, in particular the performers in the roles of Jose (Andrii Romanenko), Escamillo (Mykola Koval), and Micaela (Liliia Hrevtsova). They succeeded in transforming the dramatic background of the opera into a brilliant psychological action, demonstrating not only a high vocal level but also a brilliant artistic performance, and revealing the musical dramaturgy of Bizet’s opera.
The next two performances also demonstrated the creative level of the troupe, especially the chorus, whose performance level won the hearts of the opera-savvy German audience. Our singers showed an organic ability to blend the polyphonic tapestry of vocal performance with acting, by no means inferior to the skill of professional theater actors. This is especially true of the female performers in the first act, when the singers created a colorful picture of the life of female workers in a tobacco factory, emphasizing the socio-psychological roots of Carmen’s character, and the events that stirred up all of Seville.
The creative composition of the second performance was also a success. Tetiana Pymenova (Carmen) thrilled the demanding audience. The singer has a wonderful voice with a brilliant and pliant timbre, and the expressiveness of the French language added charm and psychological veracity to her performance. Although her Carmen is somewhat more restrained than the character created by Anysymova, you can feel the depth of inner contradictions of the extraordinary heroine, who is always governed by the call of her passionate heart, not pragmatism.
Olha Nahirna’s performance in the role of Micaela provoked stormy applause. The singer’s rich timbre was a real highlight of the performance. Opera lovers in Oberammergau had a chance to acquaint themselves with the singing of Valerii Benderov (Jose), Mykola Koval, Volodymyr Openko (Escamillo), Petro Pryimak, Hennadii Vashchenko (El Dancairo), Vasyl Kalybabiuk, Oleh Sychov (Zuniga), Serhii Pashchenko (El Remendado), and the brilliant duet of Carmen’s friends Frasquita and Mercedes, performed by Oksana Tereshchenko, Svitlana Hodlevska and Olena Klein. I must also single out the children’s chorus (director: Naida Zaitseva) which performed its parts in an organic and serious manner befitting adults and utterly blended in with the performance.
This tour gave foreign audiences an opportunity to become acquainted with different Ukrainian singers and various interpretations of one and the same image. This allows the troupe to represent not only the high level of the troupe, but also the diversity of its creative potential.
The staging of Carmen - the masterpiece of the French grand opera — is possible only with the presence of a first-class soprano, mezzo-soprano, dramatic tenors and baritones, which is what the Kyiv Opera demonstrated in Oberammergau. The performances of Ukraine’s National Opera, with its art increasingly integrating into the European cultural process (proved by their invitation to take part in the program of the Bavarian Kingdom’s 200th anniversary celebrations) were a great success. The staging of Carmen in Oberammergau not only expanded an already saturated touring schedule, but also enriched the palette of Germany’s cultural life in the fall season.
