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The Young Opera "Ukraine – Terra Incognita"

… Myths come to life. And you are among them.

Unusual, refined, modern opera-myth "Ukraine - Terra Incognita" combines archaic singing of the ancient Ukrainian songs, symphonic music, free jazz, video art and futuro-folk costumes. The opera is dedicated to the Ukrainian singer and warrior Vasyl Slipak.

🔹 Author of the project, director: Ulyana Horbachevska

🔹 Composer: Maria Oliynyk

🔹 Singers: Ulyana Horbachevska, Serhiy Badyuk, Olga Balandyukh, Mykola Bereza, Denys Ivaniv, Sofia Leshyshak, Andriana-Yaroslava Sajenko, Marko Svizhinskyy, Kateryna Smirnova, Yaroslav Fedorchuk.

🔹 Improvisers: Igor Gnidyn (percussion) and Mykhailo Balog (saxophone). Lyricist: Gordiy Starukh

🔹 The Ukrainian Festival Orchestra under the direction of Taras Demko and Ivan Ostapovych

🔹 Conductor - Taras Vergun.

🔹 Stage designer and opera artist: Volodymyr Oleshchuk.

🔹 Video art: VJ group CUBE.

🔹 Costumes: Martha Wachholz.

🔹 Project team: Olexandra Sorokopud, Yurko Vovkogon, Iryna Vuytsyk, Natalka Zakharkiv, Anastasia Bezpalova, Orest Slipak, Alim Aliyev, Hryhoriy Semenchuk, Lesya Oliynyk.

🔹 Video: Igor Leschuk, Stas Bezginsky, Ostap Kostyuk, Petro Tsymbal.

🔹 Creative cooperation: Bohdan Kokotaylo, Oleksandr Levitsky, Volodymyr Stetskovych, Anastasia Vesna, Bohdan Kushnirchuk, Andriy Turyansky, Yuriy Shcherbaty, Oleg Vozny, Maksym Hnyp, Danuta Naugolnyk, Rostyslav Pavlyk.

The recording made in September 2020 at the Lem Station.


Excerpt from the libretto (author - Ulyana Horbachevska):

"Ukraine - Terra Incognita" is an opera-myth about a Warrior on the edge of the land who protects everything most precious: Home, Ancestry, Love. Through the images and themes, like a shoot, grows a female voice, which sings, whispers, lulls and calls the Iron Heart in a moment of danger.

Who or what is it? A woman of the Ancestry? A Bird? Song? Earth?

All of the above and all at once. This is Terra Incognita. The land is incomprehensible to strangers and so native to us. We feel its elusive impulses passing under, through, over ... This is what does not allow us to give this land away. Myths come to life before our eyes. Now, at this moment, in the Steppe, where every generation could try and find itself, there is a warrior with an Iron Heart and defends Home, the Ancestry, and Love.

Roles:

• Solo female voice - Terra Incognita

• Soprano Saxophone - Iron Heart

• Percussion - Steppe Female voices - Ancestry, Love

• Male voices - Warriors

• Orchestra - Home

The libretto of the opera can be read here: https://ukraine-young-opera.com/stori...


The project is organized by YMCA Lviv in cooperation with the Vasyl Slipak Foundation and the NGO Crimean House.

In 2020, with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the International Renaissance Foundation and the Big Idea crowd-funding, a video of the opera was filmed.

In the future, the Young Opera "Ukraine - Terra Incognita" plans to present Ukrainian art in the most prestigious halls in the world. In particular, staging an opera in Paris, where Vasyl Slipak was singing and lived for almost 20 years, is very important for the project team.

💙💛 Watch, feel, and share with people who can hear!