Music as Response to Russian Missile Attacks

In an Odesa besieged by weeks of missile strikes and blackouts that left residents without light and heating, Odesans filled their Opera and Ballet Theater on Dec. 20, drawn by the allure of Italian music.

The performance was the Ukrainian premiere of two operas by Giacomo Puccini: Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica. These two short operas (50 minutes each) have very different plots. The first is a comic opera set in ancient Florence, where a disinherited family seeks to reclaim an inheritance through the cunning of a trickster, Gianni Schicchi. The second, set in a convent, portrays the inner torment of Angelica, a nun.

The production was the result of a collaboration between Italian theater impresarios Enrico Copedè and Carlo Antonio De Lucia, Ukrainian theater professionals, and conductor Igor Chernetsky. The staging was funded by the Italian Embassy in Kyiv, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the Italian Honorary Consul of Odesa, Vladislav Shtamburg. On stage to greet the audience was the theater’s director, Nadiya Babich, who formally thanked Italy for its support of the theater. At her side there was Francesco Pesce, Deputy Head of the Italian Embassy delegation, who conveyed the greetings of Italian Ambassador Carlo Formosa and highlighted Italy’s commitment to supporting Ukraine and Odesa. Also present were Carlo Colonnella, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute, and Pierluigi Curti, advisor to the Italian Honorary Consulate of Odesa.

Other Topics of Interest

Artwork Saved from Bombs in Ukraine Goes on Display in Warsaw

Priceless treasures from an art museum in Kyiv that were moved to Poland to save them from the destructive power of Russian bombs have gone on display at Warsaw’s Royal Castle.

The Italian team included Chiara Demelio, a scenography professor at the Brera Academy of Milan, who designed the sets for the show. Brera’s involvement carried symbolic value, as professors from Brera, including Odesa’s chief architect Franz Morandi, founded Odesa’s Grekovka Art School in the mid-19th century, whose students included Vassily Kandinsky.

The performance, staged under difficult conditions due to air-raid alerts and limited technical resources, was made possible by the resilience of Ukrainian theater workers. Additionally, the familiarity of Odesa’s musicians and singers with Italian music facilitated the production in record time.

Italian baritone Domenico Balzani, who played Gianni Schicchi, shared his reasons for accepting a role in a country at war: “I know that many of my colleagues would have declined the offer to sing in Odesa for safety reasons. But my father was a carpenter, and when the devastating Friuli earthquake struck, he built wooden houses for families left without homes. I am an opera singer. What can I do for people in need if not bring them my art? And when my daughters ask me, ‘Dad, where were you during the war in Ukraine?’ I will be able to answer, ‘I was there.’”

Balzani’s outstanding performance of Gianni Schicchi (also a character in Dante’s Inferno) was particularly applauded when, after successfully pulling off his scheme, he donned a captain’s cap and a scarf – a nod to the iconic character Ostap Bender from the novels of Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov. This twist, chosen by director Linas Saicauskas as a tribute to Odesa, was immediately recognized and met with thunderous applause – a response from Odesa’s culturally aware residents to the recent decision by the regional administration to remove Ilf and Petrov from the city’s street names.

With this event, the Odesa Opera Orchestra once again affirms itself as a symbol of Ukrainian cultural vitality, continuing to perform amid air raids. It is the same orchestra that performed in the Italian Parliament in Rome in February 2023 and is scheduled to tour Japan in February 2025, with performances in Yokohama and Tokyo funded by Japanese government to strengthen international support for Ukraine.