Kyiv’s grand opera house has staged its first show since Russia’s invasion three months ago. Shaun Walkers hears from audience and cast members.
The lights dimmed, a hush came over the auditorium and the orchestra struck up the first notes of the overture. This ritual has taken place thousands of times at Kyiv’s grand opera house over the past century, but the performance on Saturday afternoon was something out of the ordinary.
In a city that over the past three months became used to wailing air-raid sirens and the thuds of artillery from the suburbs, the audience was instead treated to the frothy melodies of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.
It marked the first performance since the missiles and shells of Vladimir Putin’s invasion rudely interrupted the opera season – and everything else in Ukraine – in the early hours of 24 February...Keep reading on The Guardian.
The lights dimmed, a hush came over the auditorium and the orchestra struck up the first notes of the overture. This ritual has taken place thousands of times at Kyiv’s grand opera house over the past century, but the performance on Saturday afternoon was something out of the ordinary.
In a city that over the past three months became used to wailing air-raid sirens and the thuds of artillery from the suburbs, the audience was instead treated to the frothy melodies of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.
It marked the first performance since the missiles and shells of Vladimir Putin’s invasion rudely interrupted the opera season – and everything else in Ukraine – in the early hours of 24 February...Keep reading on The Guardian.