Ukrainian singers revived Solomia Krushelnytska’s characters

In the framework of a project dedicated to the famous Ukrainian opera diva, singers Jamala, Kasha “Baby” Saltsova, Yulia “The Hardkiss” Sanina, and Anastasia Prykhodko were recorded performing her most prominent theater parts. The singers revived characters which once brought Krushelnytska the love of the public on both sides of the Atlantic: Cio-Cio-San (from the opera Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini), Elsa (from Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin), Aida (the title role of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera) and Elena (from Arrigo Boito’s Mephistofele).

 “Folk music is a kind of legacy that has remained with us through the centuries, a unique code of the people’s soul,” Jamala said. “Krushelnytska made a huge contribution to the preservation and development of the Ukrainian folk song tradition. I think Ukrainians would never be where we are now without her, and a part of our soul would be lost forever.”

Especially for these recordings, the Lviv Krushelnytska Musical Memorial Museum provided accurate reconstructions of costumes in which the singer appeared on the stages of the Italian La Scala, the Theatre National de l’Opera in Paris, and the Theater of Buenos Aires. Accessories and headdresses worn by Krushelnytska have not survived, so Lesia Patoka’s studio was commissioned to recreate them.

“The Atmosphere of Krushelnytska project enables us, museum workers who promote the name and artistic legacy of Krushelnytska, to employ modern language as we talk about this outstanding Ukrainian,” we heard from Halyna Tykhobaieva, director of the Lviv Krushelnytska Musical Memorial Museum. “This project reflects not only Krushelnytska’s figure, but also the atmosphere of the late 19th and early 20th century, the heyday of opera.”