Young opera « Ukraine Terra Incognita» is a large-scale project, which combines the Ukrainian authentic singing with modern academic and European improvisational music with a help of the new art forms.

Visual-music performance is created by a combination of solo female voice, saxophone, percussion, male choir, female singing ensemble, symphony orchestra, choreographic group and video art.

The opera is dedicated to Vasyl Slipak, the soloist of the Paris Opera who became the Ukrainian modern hero. In 2015, he went as a volunteer fighter to the eastern front line in Ukraine and died there hit by a sniper bullet.

The opera libretto is composed with the Ukrainian authentic songs, folk and author’s texts. This is a story in 5 myths: “House”, “Ancestry”, “Love “, “Steppe”, and ”Iron Heart”. Each separate piece is a self-sufficient part, as well as a composition of microforms, where the plot is not linear but dimensional.

The opera premiere is planned for 2020. Young opera «Ukraine Terra Incognita» will present contemporary Ukrainian art to the world.

The project is created by famous Ukrainian and European composers, filmmakers, musicians, actors, singers and folklore researchers.

Myth of Iron Heart: fragment

“We want not only to talk about our pain and hope, but also to create a new area where we will introduce Ukraine to the world by speaking the language of art about our current challenges. It is important that our project is international while based on Ukrainian opera. I am convinced, that diving into the past and creating the future with European artists, we all discover our archetypes. Opera Ideals and myths have a lot in common and they retell the same concepts”.

(Uliana Horbachevska)

Participants:

Ulyana Horbachevska

Producer, author of the idea and libretto. Famous Ukrainian singer and producer. Researches the authentic folk songs and ancient spiritual Ukrainian songs. Creates the new theatrical and musical forms which combine authentic singing and author’s improvisations.
Collaborates with famous Ukrainian and foreign artists (Yurii Andrukhovych, Klaus Kugel, Petras Vyshnyauskas, Mark Turner, Rishard Lyatetski and others).

Maria Oliynyk

Composer and author of music. She studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Netherlands) and Lysenko National Music Academy in Lviv. In the works she combines modern and classic European music. Maria also refers to the sources of authentic singing traditions of Ukraine. In 2017, she premiered her piece “A tribute to Vasyl Slipak” in the international music festival “Contrasts”.

Petras Vysniauskas

Petras Vysniauskas is a legendary Lithuanian improvisational saxophonist and clarinetist. Professor of the Academy of Music and Theater in Vilnius. Applies Lithuanian folklore. Petras is an important figure in contemporary European jazz. Collaborates with famous artist: Ken Vandermark, Steve Lacy, Charlie Mariano, Karl Berger, Vyacheslav Ganelin, Theo Jörgensmann.

Klaus Kugel

Klaus Kugel is a master of avantgarde jazz and improvisational music. One of the most vibrant and expressive contemporary jazz percussionists in Europe. He always balances the boundary between inner and outer play in a particularly sharp way. He received his music education at the Munich Jazz School. Kugel has gained worldwide recognition through collaborative projects with such musicians as Karl Berger, Tomasz Stanko, Charlie Mariano, Kent Carter, Michel Pilz.

Ryszard Latecki

Ryszard Latecki is a multi-instrumentalist (trumpet, percussion, and piano) famous at the European alternative scene. His style is an “improvisational intuitive music”. Ryszard is a vice-president of the Polish Association of Contemporary Music. Music festival coordinator and author of the educational programs, the founder of many musical formations.

Singers

Mykola Bereza, leading actor of Les Kurbas theater in Lviv, the movie actor.
Marko Svizhinskyy, actor of Les Kurbas theater.
Sofia Leshyshak, actress of Lesia Ukrainka theater.
Dennis Ivan, student of the Taras Shevchenko Folklore National University Department, Kyiv.
Yaroslava Saenko, student of Lysenko National Musical Academy, Lviv.

VJ groupe Cube

VJ band “Cube” was created in 2006 year on the basis of the Ivano-Frankivsk film club. Now the group consists of three VJ`s: VJ Glow (Serhiy Pilyavets), VJ DaPix (Denis Ovchar) and VJ Ra (Roman Shkromyda). ”Cube” makes video art in projects of Yuri Andrukhovych and “Karbido”. The group participates in famous art festivals (”Ostrale bienale “, “PortoFranko”, ”Isolation“) makes mapping, media streaming, and video graffiti on buildings.

Prospects:

Young opera “Ukraine Terra Incognita” opens a modern Ukrainian art to the world together with the ancient codes of our culture expressed in a modern form. It presents Ukraine as not a poor country “on the edge of Europe” where the distant and incomprehensible war takes place. Our project presents young Ukraine where people create modern art despite all the problems and centuries of suppression by different empires. Ukraine has preserved the European values and people are still ready to sacrifice their lives for freedom.

The project is looking for partners for implementation, making and presenting opera in Ukrainian and European cities. In particular, it is important for us to present it in Paris, where Vasyl Slipak lived and performed on the opera stage.

DONATE project:

Intermediary:

KBC BANK NV, Brussels , Belgium
SWIFT: KREDBEBB

COMMERZBANK AG, Frankfurt, Germany
SWIFT: COBADEFF

UNICREDIT S.P.A., Milano, Italy
SWIFT: UNCRITMM

RAIFFEISEN BANK INTERNATIONAL AG, Vienna, Austria
SWIFT: RZBAATWW

Beneficiary’s bank:

JSC KREDOBANK, Lviv, Ukraine
SWIFT: WUCBUA2X

Beneficiary name: HMO “KHRYSTYIANS`KA ASOTSIATSIIA-YMCA”

IBAN: UA083253650000002600701429500

Organizers:

YMCA Lviv (Non governmental youth organization ” Christian Association – YMCA»)

NGO The Wassyl Slipak Foundation

NGO Crimean House

Young opera «Ukraine Terra Incognita»