The Ukrainian listener can hear again Vasyl Manolov, Meritorious Artiste of Ukraine and winner of the All-Ukrainian Contest of Vocalists. He has been absent from the Ukrainian stage for some time, performing abroad predominantly as a concert singer. The reason was that in the early 1990s Manolov decided to quit the National Opera stage because he once felt he was not too needed within the walls of our theater. However, Manolov became Ukraine’s first bass to sing on the renowned La Scala stage. Vasyl Manolov performed in the six productions of Mussorgsky’s The Fair at Sorochinsk , where he sang together with the famed Mariya Stefyuk. The Italian and Swiss press wrote then that Manolov had a brilliant and beautiful voice. And even such a “mammoth” of a newspaper as La Republica wrote that Vasyl Manolov was worth being singled out among the male singers. For many years the name of Manolov adorned the billboards of Kyiv and Kharkiv opera houses, then he had to sing on stages and in concert halls of many countries abroad. Now his voice resounds again in the concert halls of our capital.
Manolov’s repertory includes 39 operatic parts. It often happens that singers with a large operatic repertory and great experience of work on the big opera stage confine themselves to opera singing, shunning concert and variety halls. Luckily, Vasyl Manolov avoided this lure. Many countries and continents have heard his voice. Moreover, the singer had never ignored chamber performances. It should be remembered that his longtime accompanist was Halyna Patorzhynska, professor at the National Musical Academy, daughter of the renowned Ukrainian bass Ivan Patorzhynsky, who passed way so recently and so suddenly. Manolov regularly appears as a cantata-cum-oratorio singer. He has sung in Haydn’s oratorio The Creation , Handel’s Messiah , in the Requiems by Mozart and Verdi, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony , among others.
The last year saw an event extremely important for the singer. In August 2001, Poltava oblast hosted the First Assembly of Ukraine’s Ethnic Bulgarians held in the places connected with the history of the Bulgarian people. Manolov took part in the concerts, singing both Ukrainian and Bulgarian repertories. An especially deep imprint was left by his performance near the restored grave of Khan Kubrat in the village of Mala Pereshchepyna, Novi Shanzari district, Poltava oblast. No wonder: an ethnic Bulgarian, the singer pays such an inspiring tribute to his roots. Do not forget, either, that the range of world renowned Bulgarian basses is crowned by the names of Boris Khristov and Nikolai Gyaurov. Last year Manolov also began to regularly appear on the concert stage; for example, he took part in a concert dedicated to the undying memory of Larysa Rudenko.
This season, Vasyl Manolov gave several solo recitals in the premises of St. Andrew’s Church. These performances were organized by the Ukrainian Philharmonic Society national charitable foundation. The singer is certain to continue cooperation with the society. For instance, on June 30 the vault of the church built by Rastrelli heard the first part of Franz Schubert’s rarely performed Winter Journey vocal cycle, with the second part to follow on July 28. In a way, these recitals are being held to observe the 175th anniversary of this cycle. Still more carefully prepared concert programs are in the offing. Manolov’s concert repertory is extraordinarily broad: it also includes the recently performed monographic program, Musical Shevchenkiana. Apropos, Manolov’s Shevchenkiana also includes Yury Ishchenko’s monoopera The Kobzar’s Reflections . A special place in his concert repertory belongs to the vocal cycles of Russian composers Mussorgsky, Sviridov, Shostakovich, and Kabalevsky. The singer has recently prepared a new program of the classical Russian romance song and updated another colossal program based on old Russian songs of romance.
Finally, on March 14 Vasyl Manolov staged a spectacular comeback to the National Opera of Ukraine stage. He sang the part of Count Robinson in Domenico Cimarosa’s opera, The Secret Marriage . Kyivans could at last hear again his voice in this beautiful comic opera which, in its turn, has long been a gem in the National Opera’s repertory. It is he who sang the premiere of The Secret Marriage , staged by Iryna Molostova, in 1984. The production got a new lease of life on the Kyiv stage the year before last thanks to the painstaking and self-denying efforts of stage director Valentyna Reka.
Let us hope that Vasyl Manolov will appear more often on the Ukrainian stage and we will hear him sing the roles of Boris, Gremin, Volodymyr of Galicia, along with other great roles.
