The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine has recently shown three programs that became a remarkable cultural event, each of them featuring a romantic masterpiece. The gem of the first concert was Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) symphonic poem. Later Hector Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony was performed.
Jiacomo Puccini’s Sour Angelica was dedicated by the orchestra to the memory of the operatic legend of the twentieth century Maria Callas. This was the opera’s first performance in Ukraine (director cum conductor Volodymyr Sirenko, director cum producer Tetiana Zozulia, designer cum stylist Tetiana Nevidomska, designers Serhiy Lukashev and Volodymyr Bilokin). The Blahovist [Bell] soloists ensemble conducted by Tetiana Kumanovska and boys choir of the Lev Revutsky Choir (choirmaster Ayida Zaitseva) also took part in the performance. The leads were sung by soloist of the National Opera Iryna Semenenko (Angelica) and Liudmyla Yurchenko (the Princess). The brilliant vocalists duly represented our school in the project commemorating the great Greek. The chamber character of the stage where the orchestra was placed together with the actors agreed with the genre of the one-act opera. The tragedy of the young woman who has lost her son, her trust and agony, religious climax and deep human despair, and, finally, forgiveness by Madonna who had mercy on the self-murderer, and the reunion of the mother and the child in Heaven compose this opus’s emotional palette. Iryna Siemenenko with her meticulous vocal technique managed her complicated task perfectly. The nuns’ snow-white attire (there are no male characters in the opera) contributed into creating the light and pure atmosphere along with Puccini’s passionate music. The orchestra, having great experience in rendering the great Italian’s works, accompanied the performance in a refined manner.
