Ukrainian opera received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award

Fragment of the opera “Chornobildorf”

Jörg Baumann

Opera Chornobyldorf two Ukrainian composers – Roman Grigoriev and Ilya Razumeyka – received the Award of the Royal Philharmonic Society of Great Britain in the nomination “Opera and musical theater“.

This is stated in the press release from the Opera Aparta formation, which I received UP. Culture.

Among the competitors of productions in this nomination were: opera “Dialogues of the Carmelites” by the Australian director Barry Kosky and opera “Innocence” in the production Simon Stone, created in collaboration with the companies of Amsterdam, Helsinki, San Francisco, and the Royal Opera. The winners were determined by a group of classical music experts from Great Britain.

“This is a surprise for us as we are not quite a British opera. But this is a very pleasant recognition, because with us in the nomination were two of the largest opera houses in the world with huge budgets. And our self-proclaimed opera studio, which occupies 20 square meters in the Union of Composers, defeated these monsters of the opera industry. We are very grateful to all partners“, the composer said Ilya Razumeyko.

The Royal Philharmonic Society of Great Britain was founded in 1813 and is one of the oldest musical societies in the world. The prize of this institution has been awarded since 1989 for live performance of classical music.

“In fact, this is not a personal distinction, it is a distinction of Ukraine. Such things should be obtained in general and be proud of them, because this is a real confirmation of our stability and responsibility for the cultural life of the country”, added the composer Roman Hryhoriv.

Chornobyldorf premiered in Great Britain as part of the Great Britain/Ukraine Season of Culture during Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//), where she garnered rave reviews and reviews from the British media. The recording of the opera was broadcast for a month on the BBC-3 classical music radio.

About the Chornobildorf opera

The archaeological opera Chornobyldorf tells the story of the descendants of humanity who survived a series of man-made and climatic disasters and are now building a post-apocalyptic settlement on the ruins of a nuclear power plant.

The composers began work on the project in 2020, and the premiere took place at the Art Arsenal in October of the same year. In addition to composers and opera soloists, a Ukrainian poet was involved in the premiere Yuriy IzdrykAustrian actress Ann Bennentchoreographer Khrystyna Slobodyanuk and a dancer Maria Potapenko.

Since then, the production has received Ukrainian recognition, in particular, won 5 awards of the theater festival-award GRA. In December 2021, Chornobyldorf was recognized as one of the 6 best operas in the international competition Music Theater Now.

In addition to the United Kingdom, Chornobyldorf has toured in the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Lithuania and the USA. As the composers noted, in the near future they will be able to appreciate it in the Czech Republic.

At the end of 203, Roman Hryhoriv and Ilya Razumeyka were honored with the “UP-100” award.

At the beginning of 2024, Roman Hryhoriv and Ilya Razumeyko announced that their new opera will be released soon GAIA-24. The Ukrainian premiere will take place May 10 in Kyiv, and on May 16 she will open the leading European festival O.Festival in Rotterdam.

“GAIA-24 is a grand opera that we have been working on since June of last year, when the Russians blew up the dam of the Kakhovsky Reservoir. We would also like to show it in the UK if we are invited“, – said Ilya Razumeyko.