Kiev Opera

The Kiev Opera group was formally established in the summer of 1867, and is the third oldest in Ukraine, after Odessa Opera and Lviv Opera. Today, the Kiev Opera Company performs at the National Opera Theatre of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in Kiev.

History

Early History: 1867 - 20th century

Established in the summer of 1867 by Ferdinand Berger (? - 1875). Berger succeeded in inviting many talented singers, musicians, and conductors, and the city council (duma) had offered the newly created trouppe to use the City Theatre (constructed in 1856, architect I. Shtrom) for their performances. Officially, the theatre was named the City Theatre but was most commonly referred to as the Russian Opera. The day of the first performance, November 8 (October 27 old style), 1867 was made a city holiday. The performance of the opera "Askold's Tomb" by Alexey Verstovsky was the troupe's debut. The initial success is attributed to the vocal talents of that time of O. Satagano-Gorchakova, F. L'vov, M. Agramov but also to the captivating plot taken from some principal pages of the ancient history of the city.

Early performances were mostly Russian operas, including "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Mikhail Glinka, "Rusalka" by Alexander Dargomyzhsky, "Maccabees" by Anton Rubinstein and "The Enemy's Power" by A. Serov, as well translated European operas including "The Barber of Sevile" by Rossini, "The Marriage of Figaro" by Mozart, "The Magic Archer" by Weber, "Lucia di Lammermoor" by Donizetti, and also operas by Giuseppe Verdi, which became the favorite of the Kyivites.

On February 4, 1896, after a morning performance of "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky, a fire erupted from the unextinguished candle in the theatre. The fire consumed the whole building within several hours. One of the largest musical libraries in Europe along with numerous costumes and stage props of many performances were lost during the fire. After the fire of the City Theatre, the troupe performed on other stages for several years, including Bergonie's Theatre (now the National Theatre of Russian Drama named after Lesya Ukrainka), Solovtsov's Theatre (now the National Theatre named after Ivan Franko) and even on the arena of the famous Krutikov's Circus.

Early 20th century

After the fire, the City Council had announced the international competition to design a new building for the Opera Theatre in Kiev. The winning proposal was by Victor Aleksandrovich Shreter. The exterior was designed in Neo-Renaissance style and had accounted for the needs of the actors and the spectators. The interior was redesigned in a classical style and called "Viennese Modern". However, his greatest achievement is considered to be the stage - one of the largest in Europe designed to the latest engineering standards.

On September 29 (September 16 old style), 1901, the solemn opening of the new premise of the theatre took place with a performance of cantata Kyiv by composer Wilhelm Hartweld (1859 - 1927) and a presentation of the opera "Life for the Tsar" by M. Glinka.

In the first decade of the 20th century, the Kiev Opera Theatre attracted the most outstanding Ukrainian and Russian singers, including O. Petlyash, P. Tsecevich, K. Voronets, M. Medvedev, K. Brun, O. Mosin and O. Kamionsky and famous opera stars from the West often came on tours. Several unusual for the time performances took place on the stage: "Die Walkure" by Wagner, "Sadko" by Rimsky-Korsakov and "Mefistofele" by Boyto.

As Kiev began to grow and with the conclusion of World War I, the Kiev Opera occupied a special place in the USSR and the world. The Kiev Opera Theatre was considered to be one of the most prestigious in Ukraine and Russia.

During the intermission of a performance on September 1, 1911, Dmitry Bogrov killed Prime Minister Peter Stolypin.

References

*/uk icon [http://www.opera.com.ua/index_en.html National Opera House of Ukraine] official website