Ave Verdi!

The concert “Gala Verdi” at the National Philharmonic Society was the first in the chain of celebrations. This event opened a series of concerts of a renewed cycle “Golden Pages of Italian Music,” which is very popular among Ukrainian music lovers. As a reminder: this joint Ukrainian and Italian art project was initiated by the Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine and the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine and supported by the Embassy of Italy, but the global economic crisis forced the organizers to close their programs down. The Ambassador of Italy to Ukraine Fabrizio Romano noted: “The cooperation between Italy and Ukraine in the cultural sphere is one of the priority areas of our activity. We have planned a whole set of large-scale joint projects for this year, in particular thanks to very close and mutually beneficial cooperation with the director general of the National Opera of Ukraine Petro Chupryna. With today’s concert we start celebrating the 200th birthday anniversary of the Italian genius, whose works are popular and loved in your country, and renew the cycle of Italian music concerts initiated jointly with the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine. This year Ukrainian music lovers will have a great opportunity to enjoy various periods and styles of Italian music art: from the exquisite baroque music and opera to contemporary composers and jazz.”

The recent visit of the “ambassador of culture,” professor and director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine Nicola Franco Balloni enlivened the cultural life in Kyiv and caused the expansion of cultural connections between our countries. The revival of the “Golden Pages of Italian Music” is the first event from the large series of future events, which are to take place across Ukraine (about 10 concerts and a festival).

At the beginning of the event, minister of culture Leonid Novokhatko awarded the Cabinet of Minister’s honorary diplomas for the significant contribution to development of cooperation between our countries to the Italian Ambassador Romano and director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine Balloni. “It is a great honor for me to receive such a high award from the Ukrainian government today,” Romano said. “I accept it as not only the assessment of my efforts on the post of the ambassador of Italy to Ukraine, but as the assessment of our whole embassy staff’s efforts.”

When receiving the award, Balloni was deeply moved. He admitted: “This is a great honor. I have been working in Ukraine for many years. I fell in love with your culture, language, and people. A part of my heart and soul will always be here…” By the way, the books from The Day’s Library became a surprise gift for both the ambassador and the director, presented by the acting chairperson of the board of the Private Joint-Stock Company “Ukrainian Press Group” Nadia Ushakova.

“Gala Verdi” opened a series of evenings to celebrate the birthday anniversary of the legendary composer and director Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). The maestro’s artistic heritage is huge: he wrote 28 (!) operas and the famous Requiem. His Un ballo in maschera, La traviata, Aida, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, Otello, Nabucco, Falstaff, etc. are the opera masterworks that adorn the playbills in many countries. During his whole career, Verdi refused to use the tenor C, saying that the opportunity to sing this very note in front of the full house distracts singers before, after, and while they sing this note. The master said that the most important things for him are voice and melody. Verdi was the first composer who carried out an intentional search of a plot for libretto, which would correspond to the peculiarities of his composer’s talent the most. While cooperating closely with librettists and knowing that dramatic expression is the strong point of his talent, he tried to exclude “needless” details and “unnecessary” characters from the plot, thus leaving only the characters full of passion, and dramatic scenes.

The following pieces were played at the concert: arias from operas La traviata, Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera, Il trovatore, Don Carlos, overture to La forza del destino and La traviata, choirs from Nabucco and Aida, and fragments from the magnificent Requiem were performed by the musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra of the Philharmonic Society conducted by Mykola Diadiura, the choir Dumka (under Yevhen Savchuk), and soloists: Helene Urigu (mezzo-soprano, Italy), Serhii Mahera (bass), Ihor Borko (tenor), Lilia Hrevtsova (soprano), Alla Rodina (soprano), Olha Fomichova (soprano), Harry Setian (baritone), Serhii Bortnyk (tenor), and Oleksandr Kyreiev (baritone).

Each number of the program was received with a storm of applause. The impressive performance of the fragment from the second act of Aida by the choir Dumka was the grand finale of the evening, which the audience gave a standing ovation.

After the concert, Nicola Franco BALLONI, director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine, told The Day:

“This concert is the first one of the many events that we prepare for Ukrainian music lovers. Verdi festivities will go on.

“On May 12, Requiem will be performed at the National Opera House of Ukraine. It will be dedicated to two events: the 100th anniversary of the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine and the 200th birthday anniversary of the maestro Giuseppe Verdi. This masterwork will be performed by the best graduates of the Kyiv Conservatory: Liudmyla Monastyrska, Anzhelina Shvachka, Mykhailo Didyk, and Valentyn Pyvovarov.

“On May 24 an exhibition opens, which is organized jointly with the Kyiv City Council and the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts. The exposition titled “Masterworks of the Italian Sacral Art. Giotto, Raffaello, and Guido Reni” will present three extremely valuable works by the artists. This exhibition will be a part of the Kyiv Day and celebration of the 1,025th anniversary of Christianity in Kyivan Rus’.

“Let me remind that Giotto di Bondone (1266/7, Vespignano, Italy – January 8, 1337, Florence, Italy) was an Italian painter and architect. He was one of the harbingers of the Renaissance in the spheres of painting and realism. Giotto’s biblical frescoes are still considered to be the masterworks of the world art. The artist was friends with Dante Alighieri, the latter mentioned him in his famous work Divine Comedy.

“Raffaello Santi (April or March 28, 1483, Urbino – April 6, 1520, Rome) was an Italian Renaissance painter, graphic artist, sculptor, and architect. He embodied the ideals of that remarkable epoch in his works.

“Guido Reni (November 4, 1575, Calvenzano, Emilia Romagna – August 18, 1642, Bologna) was an Italian artist, famous representative of the Bologna school. He created frescoes, paintings on religious and mythological subjects, and sometimes portraits.

“I think that the exhibition of this artist will be a blast!

“The 2nd International Festival Ave Verdi will become the center of the celebrations in Ukraine. It is going to take place at the National Opera House of Ukraine. Let me remind that the first festival that took place in 2001 in Kyiv was a great success (we commemorated the centennial anniversary of the composer’s death). Ave Verdi 2013 will be even more large-scale. We are going to hold the gala concert on the maestro’s birthday, October 10, and then we are going to continue the festivals with plays from the National Opera of Ukraine repertoire: Un ballo in maschera, Macbeth, Don Carlos, Aida, La traviata, Rigoletto, and Requiem. It is planned that artists from both Ukraine and Italy will participate in the performances.

“By the way, during the festival, jointly with the Rome Opera House we want to present an exhibition of costumes of Verdi’s characters from the performances staged by famous Luchino Visconti, Franco Zeffirelli, and other directors. Numerous artistic events will not be limited to Kyiv only, they will take place in other Ukrainian cities: Odesa, Donetsk, Lviv, etc.