On 11 November 2024, Kyiv will host the premiere of the rediscovered opera Creonte by prominent Ukrainian composer Dmytro Bortnyanskyy in a concert performance.
The conductor and director of the opera, People's Artist of Ukraine Herman Makarenko, told LB.ua.
"Dmytro Bortnyanskyy is a world-class Ukrainian composer. The first opera Creonte by the talented 25-year-old composer was premiered in 1776 at the San Benedetto Theatre in Venice. It was a huge success and was wanted to be staged in various European countries, but the notes of Creonte disappeared without a trace. For more than 200 years, the opera was considered lost to humanity. Our team was lucky enough to find the manuscript of the Creonte score in the archives of the Lisbon Library (Portugal). And almost 250 years after its first performance, we plan to return it to humanity," said Herman Makarenko.
He said that the opera will be performed by the National Presidential Orchestra and the National Honoured Academic Chapel of Ukraine Dumka, with the role of Creonte performed by soloist of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, winner of international competitions Serhiy Bortnyk, and the role of Antigone by soloist of the National Opera of Ukraine, Honoured Artist of Ukraine, winner of international competitions Olha Fomichova.
"The final rehearsals are now very active. All the participants are preparing for the premiere with great enthusiasm to convey to the audience all the beauty, grandeur and originality of this musical work. The music of Creonte is simply fantastic! This opera combines three musical styles: the final Baroque era, the beginning of classicism and even in some rooms touched upon romanticism," said the conductor-director of the opera.
According to Herman Makarenko, this opera is a powerful tool of cultural diplomacy, as Bortnyanskyy's figure unites four countries - Ukraine, Poland, Italy and Portugal.
"After all, the Ukrainian composer with family roots in Poland wrote and presented his first operas in Italy, and the notes of the first of his operas, Creonte, were found hundreds of years later in Portugal," said Makarenko.
He also said that the first full modern production of Creonte in Kyiv was patronised by UNESCO and Europa Nostra. "We are proud that the world premiere of Bortnyanskyy's opera Creonte in our performance has received the patronage of such powerful international organisations that care about the preservation of cultural heritage," Makarenko said.
- Herman Makarenko is a People's Artist of Ukraine, conductor of the National Opera of Ukraine, artistic director of the Kyiv Classical Orchestra, Head of the UNESCO Chair in Music, Education and Science for Peace, PhD in Philosophy, Doctor of Arts, Professor, Honorary Citizen of Kyiv, Ambassador of Ukrainian Culture, UNESCO Artist for Peace.
- The score of one of the first Ukrainian operas, Dmytro Bortnyanskyy’s Creonte, which had been considered lost for 200 years, was found by Olha Shumilina, a musicologist, Doctor of Arts, lecturer at the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy. The score was found in the Ajuda Library, which was once a structural unit of the National Library of Portugal.
- The prominent Ukrainian baroque composer Dmytro Bortnyanskyy (28 October 1751, Hlukhiv, Cossack Hetmanate - 28 September (10 October) 1825, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire) wrote six operas. The first three were composed during his stay in Italy, where he lived for 11 years, starting in 1768. In Italy, he studied with the composer Baldassare Galuppi, mastered this art brilliantly in eight years and became a master composer. Bortnyansky composed his first three operas to texts in Italian, and his last three in Russia to texts in French.
- In Ukraine, Bortnyanskyy’s operas were performed in concert in 1984 at the State Philharmonic of the Ukrainian SSR in Italian and in 2000 by the Chamber Opera Society in Kyiv in Ukrainian, translated by Maksym Strikha, and in 1996 by the Falcon (concert performances in 1995 by the Chamber Opera Society in Kyiv and in 1997 by the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, and a stage performance in 1996 by the Chamber Opera Society in Kyiv, all in Ukrainian, also translated by Maksym Strikha). In 2023, the Lviv National Opera staged the operas Falcon and Alcide in French and Italian with Ukrainian subtitles, combining them into one programme. The production was carried out by an international team led by German director Andreas Weirich, scenic and costume designer Anna Schettl, and conductor Oksana Lyniv.