The Phenomenon of the Opera — Last day
On our last day we had to get up early and pack all of our stuff in order to have lunch before our last business meeting. We met with Eugene at two o’clock in front of the opera house. He showed us the whole opera followed by a brief meeting. The highlight of our last day was the invitation for the rehearsal of the opera. During coffee and tea break, we had our reflection meeting and summarized the whole study week. After, we ended our study week with a last dinner together.
The first theatre in Odessa was opened in 1809 and was located not exactly on the same spot as today’s opera house. Due to a defect in the gas lighting system, the opera house burned down on second of January 1873. For the construction of today’s opera house, an international competition was held, won by the Viennese office Fellner & Helmer. They started in 1883 with the construction and opened in autumn 1887. The Opera House Odessa is a two-part house, where opera and ballet is performed and it is one of the landmarks on the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa. In terms of urban planning, the opera house represents the city crown of Odessa.
Eugene, the son of a Polish father and a Jewish mother was born in Lviv, Ukraine. As a 13 year old, he was already passionate about academic music. As a young man, he decided to study and live in Moscow and stayed there for over 15 years, where he became a famous and rich stage director in the theatre scene. Since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started, it was not possible for him to stay there. Not only was the conflict difficult for him personally, but also for his friends who sympathised with Putin, the current president of Russia. Through that, he felt betrayed by his friends and moved to Tel Aviv, Israel. After three years, he moved back to Ukraine and worked there for the government during a short period. He then started to work for the opera house in Odessa as a stage and theatre director. At the beginning, he did not feel that comfortable in this multicultural city. However, Odessa went through a big change in the past three years, which was the reason for Eugene to stay in this city. Not only is the Town changing, but also the generations. The young generation became much more modern. Nevertheless, the government has still the mentality of the Soviet Union, which results in corruption. In order to provide a better understanding of the Soviet Union mentality, Eugene shared two stories about his great grandparents with us. His great grandmother lived between Poland and Hungary. This region was ruled by an ongoing rotation of the involved nations. Therefore, she possessed several clocks with different time zones in order to be flexible during the changes. It helped her to organise her daily life so she would not miss the news. Nevertheless, the Soviet Union mentality helped Eugene to reach his goals. He as well as the other young people are thinking in a more modern way, which leads, according to him, to a better future. He even believes that Ukraine could become a part of the EU in the near future.
Eugene was inspirational for all of us, a true phenomenon of the opera. His personal stories were unique, which made the meeting one out of a million. An assistant of him gave us a lot of information on the tour within the opera. The information was not only new for us but also for Eugene, which was quite surprising. He shared some personal stories that gave us a better understanding of the history of the Ukraine. For example, the stories of his great grandparents. Because he has a warm and open personality, we could easily build up trust and the atmosphere was very comfortable. Nonetheless, it was a pity that he abruptly had to leave the meeting. Concerning the fact that he plays an important role of the opera, we can understand his limitation of time.
___________________________________________________________________
Kevin S.
Studyweek Odessa — A project from nine students of HTW Chur
Facebook — Instagram
