Concert

ORA SPEI

Concert for Ukraine

The State Opera

Concert

Basic information

Venue

The State Opera

Approximate running time

3 hours, 1 intermission (20 minutes) minutes

“I wanted it to sound like a quiet and bright prayer for Ukraine to the whole world,” said Yuriy Shevchenko about his piece We Are.

Announcement:
We would like to kindly inform the audience that the Czech TV crew will be recording during the concert.

Ora spei is a musical message of solidarity with and hope for Ukraine. The concert’s central motif is the brief opening piece We Are, an arrangement of the Ukrainian national anthem, “Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished”, the Ukrainian composer Yuriy Shevchenko wrote shortly after the Russian invasion of his country on 24 February 2022. Following the formation of the USSR, the national anthem was banned by the Soviet regime, only to be revived during the glasnost of the 1980s.

Cast

2023-2024
2024-2025

Creatives

Dramaturgy

Jitka Slavíková

The concert is divided into two parts, with the first one featuring arias from operas by Bedřich Smetana, Giuseppe Verdi, Jules Massenet, Gaetano Donizetti and Giacomo Puccini. The second part of the programme will afford a revelatory insight into the known and unknown past and present of Ukrainian music. Works by major Ukrainian composers – Yuryi Shevchenko, Mykola Lysenko, Semen Hulak-Artemovsky, Yakiv Stepovy, Yuliy Meitus, Klimentiy Dominchen, Myroslav Skoryk and Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky – will be performed by eight Ukrainian singers, performing in Ukraine as well as abroad, some of whom will be appearing in the Czech Republic for the very first time.

Programme:

Yuryi Shevchenko: We are
Bedřich Smetana: Bohové věční (Libuše, Libuše)
Sofia Soloviy

Giuseppe Verdi: O Carlo, ascolta – Io morrò (Rodrigo, Don Carlo)
Stepan Drobit

Bedřich Smetana: Jak je mi (Milada, Dalibor)
Valentina Pluzhnikova

Jules Massenet: Va! Laisse couler mes larmes (Charlotte, Werther)
Iryna Zhytynska

Giuseppe Verdi: Che mai veggio... Infelice! E tuo credevi (Silva, Ernani)
Sergii Magera

Giuseppe Verdi: Patria opressa (Macbeth)
Giuseppe Verdi: O figli, o figli miei! Ah, la paterna mano (Macduff, Macbeth)
Valentyn Dytyuk

Giacomo Puccini: Senza mamma (Angelica, Suor Angelica)
Sofia Soloviy

Jules Massenet: Ah! Tout est bien fini – O souverain, ô juge, ô père (Rodrigo, Le Cid)
Denys Pivnitskyi

Gaetano Donizetti: Ah! tardai troppo – O luce di quest'anima (Linda, Linda di Chamounix)
Tetiana Zhuravel

Pietro Mascagni: Regina coeli (Santuzza & Mamma Lucia, Cavalleria rusticana)
Valentina Pluzhnikova & Iryna Zhytynska

Interval

Yakiv Stepovy: Prelude in Memory of Taras Shevchenko

Klimentiy Dominchen: Carpathian Dance

Mykola Lysenko: When Two Lovers Part
Denys Pivnitskyi & Stepan Drobit

Semen Hulak-Artemovsky: Scene and duet of Oksana and Andriy from the opera A Zaporozhian Beyond the Danube
Valentyn Dytyuk & Valentina Pluzhnikova

Yuliy Meitus: Anna’s aria from the opera The Stolen Happiness
Sofia Soloviy

Mykola Lysenko: Ostap’s aria from the opera Taras Bulba
Stepan Drobit

Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky: Oh, I'll go to the mountain
Tetiana Zhuravel

Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky: Oh, you, girl, from the grain nut
Sergii Magera

I Know I’am a Sinner
Ukrainian folk song
Iryna Zhytynska

Mykola Lysenko: Taras Bulba, overture

Myroslav Skoryk: A Melody
Sofia Soloviy

Mykola Lysenko, Ivan Nebesnyi: A Prayer for Ukraine
arrangement for eight solo voices, chorus and orchestra

The benefit concert for Ukraine will be held at the State Opera in Prague, designed by Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer. The same famous architects also created the Odessa opera house, helmed at one time by Andriy Yurkevych, the current music director of Prague’s State Opera. The Odessa opera scene, before and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, will be the focus of an exhibition of photographs by the internationally renowned Odessa artist Dmitry Skvortsov.

Where to buy tickets

The National Theatre sells tickets up to 6 months in advance. We are currently selling tickets for performances of Drama, Ballet, Opera and Laterna magika taking place in April-September 2024.

When purchasing online, you can get an e-ticket. You can pick up printed tickets in person at the box offices of the National Theatre.

What to wear?

By their appearance, attire and behaviour, the audience is obliged to adhere to the accustomed practice expected from them when attending a theatre performance.

Parking at the State opera

While visiting the State Opera, you can take the slip road on Wilsonova street from the left lane close to the State Opera building to the Parking Centrum above-ground garage. The parking fee is 60 CZK/h.