Lack of funds forces majestic theater to hold 100 years of opera celebration in nation's capital, but that won't detract from moment's grandeur one bit
r of Opera and Ballet in the Name of Ivan Franko with a festival of words and music – even if those words are not his own.
A two-day festival at the National Opera Theater in Kyiv will kick off with a presentation of Verdi’s Nabucco on Oct. 19. The following evening, an operatic gala will be held in the same venue.
Expected attendees include President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko and other high-ranking members of government. The performances will be televised nationally on UT-1 and UT-2.
The Lviv Opera is part of a grand tradition of theater in Lviv. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, professional theaters hosted the operas of Mozart, Salieri and Paisiello. By the end of the century, city officials determined that there was a need for a substantial venue for opera, ballet and musical comedy. A design competition was held and the winner was Zygmunt Gorgolevsky, headmaster of the Lviv Higher Technical School.
On June 5, 1896, Gorgolewski broke ground at the head of scenic Prospekt Svobody, but not before diverting the flow of the Poltava River. Construction took more than four years, but the resulting structure – then called the Grand Municipal Theater – was well worth the wait.
While predominantly classical in design, the building is lavish without and within. The front facade is graced with renaissance and baroque ornamentation, Corinthian columns, winged statues and a towering bas relief. A wide entrance hall with multi-colored marble, gilded fixtures and a sweeping marble stairway opens onto a towering main hall. There, rows of ornately detailed spectators’ boxes rise to a hand-painted ceiling and an elaborate chandelier.
Over the years, the theater has hosted elite singers from all over Europe, ballet productions, and even dramatic pieces by Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky. This season’s highlights include productions of Verdi’s “Aida,” Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and Puccini’s “La Boheme.”
With such a magnificent venue available in Lviv, one might ask why the centennial is being celebrated in Kyiv. The answer is that a planned celebration in Lviv fell through due to a lack of funding.
The Centennial Celebration Committee expected to bring in the new millennium with the premiere of a new opera titled “Moses.” The committee commissioned internationally renowned Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk to transform Ivan Franko’s epic poem of the Jewish exodus into a fitting tribute to the theater. An international
| Planned renovations to the towering main hall had to be put off due to a lack of funds. |
fund-raising effort was undertaken to cover the cost of the commission as well as renovations on the theater. The effort received the proverbial blessing of the world’s religious community, including nods from Pope John Paul II and Yaakov D. Bleich, chief rabbi of Ukraine.
However, fund-raising efforts have fallen short. According to Walter Prochorenko, chair of the committee, the theater has only received $10,000 to $11,000 in cash donations. They expected roughly $130,000. The “Moses” opera remains unfinished and the theater remains without a much-needed lighting system.
The committee decided to fund the celebration through private donations because, as a regional theater, the Lviv Opera does not receive federal funding. According to Prochorenko, a bill has been drafted to grant the theater “national” status, a move that will hopefully free up needed funds to complete the opera. Prochorenko hopes that the bill will be approved in time for the gala in Kyiv. The premiere of Moses has been tentatively rescheduled for the spring.
Ironically, the bill that may allow for the completion of an opera based on Franko’s poem will deprive the theater of his name. With its passage, the theater will be known as the Lviv Theater of Opera and Ballet in the Name of Solomea Krushelnytska. The official explanation for the change is that Franko was a poet and scholar, whereas the latter was a noted singer, and hence more relevant to theater.
However, Prochorenko confides that the move may have more to do with Franko’s perceived association with
| Visitors gawk at the marble fixtures and gilded ornamentation in the main hall. |
the Soviet regime. This perception is highly debatable as many consider Franko second only to Taras Shevchenko in terms of Ukrainian nationalist sentiment. Franko was one of the most prolific writers of the early 20th century, producing more than 6,000 pieces of fiction and research, including tracts full of vigorous praise for his countryman Shevchenko.
Franko’s poem “Moses” was chosen in part because of its strong allegorical message of Ukrainian freedom. In its opening stanzas, it proclaims the values of “beauty, healing, and liberation.” As Prochorenko says, “He (Moses) is the prophet who led his people out of bondage … . Ukrainians feel they will need about 40 years until they are really taken out of their slavery under Soviet control.”
Moses’ desire to lead his people from bondage reflects Franko’s own longing to salvage his people, a message committee members considered a necessary inspiration in these difficult times.
But the verses sung on Oct. 19 will not be Franko’s, but Verdi’s, and by the time of the Moses premiere, the theater may no longer bear his name.
