DATELINE NEW YORK: Opera singers from Ukraine earn bravos (11/25/01)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Opera singers from Ukraine earn bravos

by Helen Smindak

Youth and exuberance play a great role in the career of Misha Didyk, the leading tenor of the Ukrainian National Opera of Kyiv who has just completed his second-season turn with the New York City Opera. As he gains greater expertise, confidence and depth of feeling, he is certain to rise ever higher in public favor and reviewers' esteem.

At age 35, Mr. Didyk has already been greeted with enthusiasm in Ukraine, Russia, Finland, Puerto Rico, Israel and the United States. He will go on to Tokyo in December to sing in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and then to France in January to sing Macduff in the Opera de Marseilles' production of "Macbeth." In March and April next spring, he will return to the United States for a second engagement with the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

A dashing fellow whose handsome good looks add much to the roles he sings, whether it be the Duke in "Rigoletto" or Pinkerton in "Madama Butterfly," the Ukrainian tenor has been reaping rewards for his Mediterranean voice and great stage presence wherever he appears.

The Helsinki Sanomat, writing about the Finnish National Opera's "Anna Bolena" in 1998, declared: "Tenor Michael Didyk, who played the part of Percy, Anna's lover in her youth, was greatly acclaimed - he was brilliant in both acting and singing."

In Puerto Rico in 2000, Jorge Martinez Sola of the San Juan Star wrote this about "La Bohème": " What we did not expect was the magnificent performance given by tenor Michael Didyk. His gigantic, powerful and very well controlled lyric voice ... has inside (it) a dark, burnished tone ..."

At the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Robert B. Driver, the company's general director, asserts: "This dashing Ukrainian tenor with a thrilling top is not to be missed ..."

Mr. Didyk's artistic achievements have been acknowledged in Ukraine by two awards: the Taras Shevchenko State Award in 1998 and the title of National Artist of Ukraine in 1999. Also in 1999, as a member of the Ukrainian government delegation during President Leonid Kuchma's official visit to Sweden, Mr. Didyk performed for King Carl XVI and Queen Sylvia of Sweden.

Chatting with me in Ukrainian at a café near Lincoln Center earlier this month, Mr. Didyk said he grew up listening to his mother sing for him; a native of the village of Hrymaliv near Ternopil, she had a very beautiful natural voice. He paid thanks to Susan S. Ashbaker, director of music and artistic administration with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, for launching his American engagements by signing him up for the company's Grand Opera's Greatest Hits Concert of 1999, where he appeared with Samuel Ramey and Denyce Graves.

"I was welcomed to the stage in Ukrainian by radio anchorwoman Pat Ciarrocchi - she learned the Ukrainian words especially for my introduction," he said with wonder.

Since that assignment, Mr. Didyk has made several appearances in the United States - with the New York City Opera and the Michigan Opera Company in Detroit - and is scheduled to sing at Opera Pacific in Los Angeles in October and November of 2002.

With his manager, Oksana Cherkashyna, beside him, eager to fill in whenever her client paused, the singer outlined his studies and early career. Born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, he studied choral directing at the Khmelnytskyi music school, attended the Central Music Academy in Kyiv and then undertook post-graduate studies at the Kyiv Conservatory. Drafted into the Soviet Army, he was invited to sing with the Red Army Chorus and toured many countries with the chorus. In 1994 he made his debut with the National Opera of Ukraine singing the role of Alfredo in "La Traviata," whose cast was headed by the famous soprano Yevhenia Miroshnychenko.

The following year Mr. Didyk began performing as a soloist with the National Opera, first as Pinkerton in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," later as Alfredo in "La Traviata," Lensky in "Eugene Onegin," Hermann in "Pique-Dame" and the Duke of Mantua in "Rigoletto." Invited to sing with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow in 1997, he spent two seasons with the Bolshoi, including a tour to St. Petersburg, where he sang at the famous Mariinsky Theater. Although the Bolshoi asked him to stay on, he decided to return to Kyiv. On the second day after his return, he received an invitation from the Finnish National Opera to sing in "Anna Bolena" and "La Traviata."

Since then, he's been singing in cities around the world - Tel Aviv, San Juan, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit and in Kyiv, where he performed in Verdi's "Requiem" and "La Traviata," Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," as well as this past September's gala concert marking the 100th anniversary of Kyiv's National Opera House.

He made his New York debut in 2000 as the Duke of Mantua in the New York City Opera's new production of "Rigoletto," winning this commendation from The New York Times' reviewer: "Misha Didyk as the Duke had the most confident Verdian style. (Though) his lightish tenor found itself under sporadic pressure ... Mr. Didyk had presence enough to hold our interest." Newsday's review included this complimentary evaluation: "The Ukrainian tenor Misha Didyk, who sang the Duke with flair, was a hopeful find. He has a Mediterranean voice, a ducal demeanor, a pleasant face and a generous technique."

Appearing at NYCO this fall as the poet Rodolfo in Puccini's poignant "La Bohème," the tenor and other principals in the cast did not fare too well with The New York Times' reviewer Anne Midgette, who found Act 1 "a little shaky," but admitted that by Act 2 the New York City Opera production "was getting the magic across."

Does Mr. Didyk have a favorite composer? He likes Verdi, Puccini and Tchaikovsky. As for operas, he doesn't have a special favorite - each opera in its own way is dear to him. While in New York, a city to which he has taken a great liking despite its fast tempo, he has been taking in the rich cultural feast of the big city, especially the Metropolitan Opera and the City Opera, and has become quickly acquainted with Ukrainian artists, such as violinist Helen Strilec, a member of the NYCO orchestra, and bass/baritone Andrij Dobriansky, who sang with the Met for 27 years, and his wife, Stephanie. Friendships have been rekindled with American Ballet Theatre stars Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Belotserkovsky, whom he knew in Kyiv, and NYCO soprano Oksana Krovytska of Lviv, who studied at the Kyiv Conservatory.

Mr. Didyk has been quite touched by Ukrainian opera-goers who greet him at the stage entrance when he leaves the theater, and he always stops to chat. Asked if he would care to sing before a Ukrainian audience in New York, Mr. Didyk replied heartily, "Of course I'd sing!"

Opera fans who would like to hear his voice before his next New York (or other American) appearance, can listen to him on a new CD, "Misha," which offers wonderful arias from Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Tchaikovsky and Gounod operas, as well as a Neapolitan song and the Ukrainian love song "Black Eyebrows, Brown Eyes." Or, visit Mr. Didyk's website, www.mishadidyk.com, and hear the tenor's glorious voice right now.

Two sopranos in one opera

Big stage spectacles in the old-fashioned tradition are not usual fare at the New York City Opera, but one exception is Puccini's "Turandot." The production, which came back to City Opera on November 3 and closed the NYCO season on November 18, included in its cast soprano Oksana Krovytska as Liu, the role in which she made her NYCO debut in 1993.

Reviewing the premiere, The News York Times' Anthony Tommasini wrote: "The vocal honors of the afternoon went to the soprano Oksana Krovytska for her affecting portrayal of Liu, the slave devoted to Timur, the blind exiled Tatar king. Ms. Krovytska's sound, though somewhat hard-edged, is earthy and alluring, and her control of Puccini's soft, high-lying phrases was impressive."

After the opening night, because of the illness of soprano Nina Warren, the title role in "Turandot" was taken over by soprano Anna Shafajinskaia for the remaining five performances, thus bringing two Ukrainian-born sopranos to one NYCO production. "Dateline" hasn't seen any reviews of Ms. Shafajinskaia's performance; reviewers usually cover opening nights. But Odesa-born Ms. Shafajinskaia, now a Toronto resident, is scheduled to sing the title role in Puccini's ferocious melodrama "Tosca" in March and April, so we will certainly get critics' reactions to this singer in the spring.

Ms. Krovytska appeared in September as the young girl in Dvorak's "Spectre's Bride" with the New Jersey Symphony at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and the War Memorial Theater in Trenton. The work has been recorded on the Delos International label and should be available for distribution in the summer of 2002.

A powerful bass

The role of the Holy Roman Emperor Barbarossa in Verdi's neglected early opera "La Battaglia di Legnano" is not large, but Vitalij Kowaljow, a powerful young Ukrainian bass, dominated every scene he was in. That's the opinion of The New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini in his recent review of the opera, and I can personally back him up. Considered a showcase for singers, the opera was presented in concert form at Carnegie Hall on November 13 by Eve Queler's Opera Orchestra of New York.

Mr. Kowaljow made his auspicious New York debut with OONY as Baldassare in "La Favorita" last March. At the time he was hailed by the Associated Press as Ms. Queler's discovery, while Opera News raved that Kowaljow had "a bass like rolling thunder."

Ms. Queler, the music director of Opera Orchestra of New York for more than 25 years, has a good record of introducing singers who go on to important careers. "La Battaglia" featured the return of four Queler "discoveries" who are destined for bigger things - Mr. Kowaljow, the Bulgarian-born soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, the Italian baritone Carlo Guelfi and the Dominican tenor Francisco Casanova. The four singers received thunderous ovations from the audience when they took bows with Ms. Queler on November 13.

In a telephone interview the day after the performance, Mr. Kowaljow told me he was born in Cherkasy in 1968 to Mykolaj and Kateryna Dmitrievna Kowaljow.

His mother sang in the church choir for 50 years, possibly inspiring the young basso to begin a career as a choir conductor following his studies at the Moscow Theological Institute, the Bern Conservatory and the Biel Opera Studio. Later he became a member of the Opera of St. Gallen in Switzerland, where he makes his home with his wife, Durian Wine of Holland.

Since his American debut as Timur in "Turandot" with the Tulsa Opera, his engagements in 2000-2001 include the San Francisco Opera, the Washington Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, as well as a variety of European operas and festivals. Though he was rather reluctant to pinpoint his hopes for the future, Mr. Kowaljow said that the Metropolitan Opera could be a possible target for him.

Helen Smindak's e-mail address is [email protected].

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