Cultural Outings during our Holiday

We had two weeks "off" while the temple was being repaired and cleaned.  Thus we had time to spend some evenings sampling the events offered at the National Opera and Ballet of Ukraine which dates from 1867.  They are housed in this splendid building constructed after the first building burned because of an unextinguished candle and was a total loss including props, costumes and music library.  This building opened in 1901 and was refurbished in the 1980's.  It has a very large stage and we enjoyed wonderful seats in the balcony and on the floor.

We saw the Verdi opera La Traviata.  It was sung in the original Italian and they had Ukrainian translation on an electronic signboard above the stage, neither of which was helpful to us!  We had studied the plot beforehand and just enjoyed the staging and singing.  The soprano lead was very good and the tenor and bass leads seemed to get better.  We really enjoyed seeing Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet from balcony seats where we could see the orchestra pit as well as the stage.  If you would like to see a YouTube clip of the production go to:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptI9XPk0qAE.  The lead dancers are different but others are the same.  We were sitting on the third level up right in the middle and at the edge of the balcony where we had an unobstructed view.  It was great.  Others of our group sat on the first and second levels; their seats were more expensive and also good.  

This is the back of the hall

Our favorite performance was the Romeo and Juliet ballet.  We found the Prokofiev music added such drama to the dance interpretation of the story.  We liked it better than the play.  The next day I spent time on our computer on YouTube watching several clips uploaded by wotanwag of "Romeo and Juliet ballet Kiev".  The lead dancers are different but the staging and choreography are the same.  We loved watching the many strong male dancers.

The monthly schedule for this house usually alternates between a night of opera and a night of ballet with different performances all month.  They have 24 ballets in their reperatoire; I don't know how many operas.  Obviously they have a large corps of performers.  They stage performances every night except Mondays and do matinees on some weekends.

We were also very pleased to attend a performance of Handel's Messiah.  The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus was established by a Texas Presbyterian in 1993 to perform Christian oratorios, requiems, masses, cantatas, etc. that were forbidden in Soviet times and not a part of the Orthodox church because, by tradition, they only sing a capella as a congregation in their services.  The KSOC also performs other classical works and in other venues.  This concert was free and held in the Kyiv Central Baptist Church.  The church chapel hall was large (holding at least a thousand) with pillars supporting a high ceiling and a balcony at the rear, so the sound was excellent.  It was sung in Ukrainian but we had programs that had the English text as well.  It seemed like a complete holiday season because Messiah is so much a part of our Christmas.