Early history: 1867 – 20th century Established in the summer of 1867 by
Ferdinand Berger (? – 1875). Berger succeeded in inviting many talented singers, musicians, and conductors, and the city council (duma) had offered the newly created troupe to use the City Theatre (constructed in 1856, architect I. Shtrom) for their performances. Officially, the theatre was named the City Theatre but was most commonly referred to as the Russian Opera. The day of the first performance, 8 November (27 October old style), 1867 was made a city holiday. The performance of the opera ''
Askold's Tomb'' by
Alexey Verstovsky was the troupe's debut. The cast included contralto
Nataliya Oleksandrivna Mykhaylovska. The initial success is attributed to the vocal talents of that time of O. Satagano-Gorchakova, F. L'vov, M. Agramov but also the captivating plot taken from some principal pages of the ancient history of the city. Early performances were mostly Russian operas, including
Ruslan and Ludmila by
Mikhail Glinka,
Rusalka by
Alexander Dargomyzhsky,
Maccabees by
Anton Rubinstein and
The Power of the Fiend by
A. Serov, as well as translated European operas including
The Barber of Seville by
Rossini,
The Marriage of Figaro by
Mozart,
Der Freischütz by
Weber,
Lucia di Lammermoor by
Donizetti, and operas by
Giuseppe Verdi, which became the favorite of the Kyivites. On 4 February 1896, after a morning performance of
Eugene Onegin by
Tchaikovsky, a fire erupted from an unextinguished candle in the theatre. The fire consumed the whole building within several hours. One of the largest musical libraries in Europe along with numerous costumes and stage props for many performances were lost during the fire. After the fire of the City Theatre, the troupe performed on other stages for several years, including Bergonie's Theatre (now the National Theatre of Russian Drama named after
Lesya Ukrainka), Solovtsov's Theatre (now the National Theatre named after
Ivan Franko) and even on the arena of the famous Krutikov's Circus.
Early 20th century After the fire, the City Council had announced the international competition to design a new building for the Opera Theatre in Kyiv. The winning proposal was by
Victor Schröter. The exterior was designed in Neo-Renaissance style and had accounted for the needs of the actors and the spectators. The interior was redesigned in a classical style and called
Viennese Modern. However, his greatest achievement is considered to be the stage – one of the largest in Europe designed to the latest engineering standards. On , the solemn opening of the new premise of the theatre took place with a performance of cantata Kyiv by composer Wilhelm Hartweld (1859–1927) and a presentation of the opera
Life for the Tsar by M. Glinka. On , there was a performance of
Rimsky-Korsakov's
The Tale of Tsar Saltan at the
Kyiv Opera House in the presence of the Tsar and his two oldest daughters, the Grand Duchesses
Olga and
Tatiana. The theater was occupied by 90 men posted as interior guards. During the intermission of a performance
Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin was killed. According to
Alexander Spiridovich, after the second act "Stolypin was standing in front of the ramp separating the parterre from the orchestra, his back to the stage. On his right were
Baron Freedericks and
Gen. Suhkomlinov." His personal bodyguard had gone to smoke. Stolypin was shot twice, once in the arm and once in the chest by
Dmitry Bogrov, a leftist revolutionary, trying to
rehabilitate himself. Bogrov ran to one of the entries and was subsequently caught. "He [Stolypin] turned toward the Imperial Box, then seeing the Tsar who had entered the box, he made a gesture with both hands to tell the Tsar to go back." The orchestra began to play "God Save the Tsar." The doctors hoped Stolypin would recover, but despite never losing consciousness, his condition deteriorated. The next day, the distressed Tsar knelt at Stolypin's hospital bedside and kept repeating the words "Forgive me". Stolypin died three days later. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Kyiv Opera Theatre attracted the most outstanding Ukrainian and Russian singers, including O. Petlyash, P. Tsecevich, K. Voronets, M. Medvedev, K. Brun, O. Mosin and O. Kamionsky and famous opera stars from the West often came on tours. Several unusual for the time performances took place on the stage:
Die Walkure by
Wagner,
Sadko by
Rimsky-Korsakov and
Mefistofele by
Arrigo Boito.
Ukrainian state In 1917, the opera house was used not only for art but also for congresses. In particular, in 1917 the Second All-Ukrainian Military Congress was held in the Opera House well known for the
First Universal of the Ukrainian Central Council proclamation. At the time
Ukrainian State, the Kyiv Opera was called the
Ukrainian Drama and Opera Theater. Operas were staged in
Ukrainian, particularly in 1918 were staged:
Faust, La Traviata,
Bohemia,
Madame Butterfly and others. It was written in Ukrainian press that Ukrainian State Opera has every reason and potential to become one of the best theaters of its time, while warning that "Ukrainian State Opera should not repeat the history of Petrograd state theaters, which gave foreign culture and citizenship culture…" and stressing that it is necessary to "organize the work of the opera artistically strong, national and cultural".
Soviet era After Ukraine was annexed by Soviet Union the theater was nationalized and named the K. Liebknecht State Opera House. In 1926 it was renamed the Kiev State Academic Ukrainian Opera, and in 1934, when Kyiv was returned the capital status, the Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of the USSR. In 1936 the theater was awarded
Order of Lenin, and in 1939 was named after
Taras Shevchenko. According to the Decree of the People's Commissar of 1926 all the operas were performed in Ukrainian language. This inspired the establishment of the full value of Ukrainian culture and language. The tradition of performing opera in Ukrainian translations succeeded until the early 1990s. In 1981 the world premiere of a ballet based on the life of
Olga of Kiev was performed to commemorate the
1500th anniversary of the city.
1990–present In 1991–1999, the National Opera was headed by
Anatoliy Mokrenko. At this time, the theatre is gradually beginning to abandon Ukrainian-language translations, which was explained by economic difficulties and the need for touring activities for artists survival. From 1992 to 2000, the National Opera of Ukraine was headed by Anatoliy Shekera. In addition to classical performances such as
Swan Lake and
The Nutcracker by
Pyotr Tchaikovsky,
Raymonda by
Alexander Glazunov, and
Coppélia by
Leo Delibes, he staged many contemporary works, including
Spartacus by
Aram Khachaturian,
Olga by
Yevhen Stankovych, and Legends of Love by
Arif Melikov. His production of
Romeo and Juliet, staged in 1971, has been on the stage for over 40 years. The performance was shown in many countries and was awarded the
UNESCO Medal as the best interpretation of
Prokofiev's work. Since 1999, Petro Chupryna has been the theater's director general (from 2002 to 2011 and since 2018, he has been the theater's artistic director as well). In 2011–2018, the position of artistic director was held by composer Myroslav Skoryk. The theater has toured in Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia, Greece, Brazil, Estonia, Poland, China, Hungary, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, Oman, and other countries. In 2017, Ukraine celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Taras Shevchenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Kyiv. The opera in 2 acts,
Natalka Poltavka, was the last scheduled performance before the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. ==Conductors==