In Ukraine, music has become an instrument of courage and resilience. Despite the war, every evening in Odessa the public continues to fill the Opera House, where Italian operas and ballet are performed. Italian artists too have ventured into Ukraine to take to the stage in Odessa.
On Saturday, 27 September, a Gala Concert was held to reward the participants of a singing competition for young talents. The initiative was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Kyiv and the Honorary Consul in Odessa, under the patronage of the Italian Embassy.
The evening opened with a video message from Italy’s Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, who also conveyed greetings and support from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Giuli himself had travelled personally to Odessa in September 2023, when he was still President of the MAXXI Museum in Rome, to draw up the “Patronage of Odessa” recovery plan on behalf of the Italian Government.
As institutional patrons of the evening, the Italian Ambassador to Kyiv, H.E. Carlo Formosa, and Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communication, Galyna Grygorenko, addressed the audience, introduced by the Odessa Opera Theatre’s Director General, Nadya Babich. Grygorenko in particular recalled that:
"The Ukrainian composers Maksym Berezovsky and Dmytro Bortnyansky studied in Bologna, and the Ukrainian opera singer Solomiya Krushelnytska saved the opera of the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini and became the greatest interpreter of the role of Butterfly.” She concluded: “The first international ‘Recitar Cantando’ competition at Odessa Opera House is further proof of the strategic cultural partnership between our two countries.”
From the right: Galyna Grygorenko (Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine), Nadya Babich (Director of Odessa Opera Theatre), Carlo Formosa (Ambassador of Italy).
Both the Theatre Director and the Italian Ambassador thanked impresario Enrico Copedè (originally from Livorno, but resident in Ukraine), who was the driving force behind the musical project. A brief intervention from the regional governor, Oleg Kiper, closed the institutional greetings.
The international competition “Recitar Cantando”, launched in mid-July 2025, was dedicated to emerging singers. Seventy applications arrived from across Ukraine, with additional candidates from Moldova, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, and even four singers from China. The first selection took place online, while the final was held in Odessa. The winners received cash prizes and offers of auditions at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, La Fenice in Venice, as well as advanced training courses at the Conservatoire Luigi Boccherini in Lucca.
The winners were:
- Grand Prize: Anna Bogach (Odessa).
- 1st Prize: Oleksandr Nikiforov (Kyiv), who also received a contract with the Odessa Opera House for a role in the upcoming season.
- 2nd Prize: Yuliya Subotina (Odessa) and Mikhail Malafii (Lviv).
- 3rd Prize: Alessandra Prokopovichi (Chisinau, Moldova) and Illya Markiv (Odessa).
- Finalists: Tetyana Lisenko, Oleksandra Dyachenko, Roman Arabadzhi.
Although Odessa is a frequent target of Russian attacks, especially at night, the evening passed without any air raid alerts. Had there been one, the audience and artists would have been sheltered in the vast underground refuge beneath the theatre.
It is worth noting that most of the jury members did not hesitate to travel to the Black Sea port city, despite strong warnings from the Italian Foreign Ministry discouraging citizens from travelling to Ukraine. To date, the Italians who do come to work in Ukraine are journalists, humanitarian workers and musicians. The jury members included:
- Co-Presidents: Lyudmyla Monastyrska, soprano of the National Opera of Ukraine and People’s Artist of Ukraine; and Nicola Colabianchi, Superintendent of La Fenice in Venice (online).
- Massimo Morelli, Director of the Boccherini Conservatoire in Lucca.
- Federico Pupo, Artistic Director of the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa.
- Fulvio Macciardi, Superintendent of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples and President of ANFOLS - National Association of Italian Opera Foundations (online).
- Enrico Copedè, Director of Opera Production C.D.
- Hirofumi Yoshida, Director of the Rising Sun Opera Foundation in Tokyo, Musical Director of the Modena Philharmonic, and Principal Guest Conductor at Odessa Opera House.
- Vasyl Koval, Principal Conductor of the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Odessa, Merited Artist of Ukraine.
- Olena Stakhovska, Professor and Head of the Solo Singing Department at the Nezhdanova National Music Academy in Odessa, People’s Artist of Ukraine.
“I’m delighted to have come to Odessa to take part in this event. At the end of the concert I was even moved to tears,” said Federico Pupo of the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa. “I will tell my colleagues in Italy what it truly means to work here in Ukraine.”
Another jury member, Massimo Morelli of the Boccherini Conservatoire in Lucca, who had previously visited Odessa to give masterclasses to the theatre’s resident singers, added: “These Ukrainian singers have talent and passion, but they need the support of Italian training to grasp the subtleties of our operatic tradition.”
In conclusion, organiser Enrico Copedè remarked:
“We hope that the Italian authorities will also support next year’s musical projects of the Odessa Opera House, which is the most beautiful in Ukraine and, with its repertoire predominantly of Italian composers, is the institution that best represents the cultural bond between Ukraine and Italy.”
Alessandro Giuli, Italian Minister of Culture
