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FULL HARVEST OF MOURNING – A Requiem ( Stankovych) Kharkiv 2008 Oles Misharin, Sergey Zamick, Alexander Lapin
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: HARVEST OF MOURNING - A Requiem or Panachida for Those Who Died of Starvation or Holodomor-Requiem
- Composer: Evs Stankovych
- Libretto: Dmytro Pavlychko Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Kharkiv National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet KNATOB, Kharkiv, Ukraine
- Recorded: November 22, 2008
- Type: Staged Opera Live
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
In 2008, Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after M. B. Lysenko made a production, which became a significant event in the history of Ukrainian musical theater. “Harvest of Sorrow” is the world’s first stage version of the oratorio of Yevhen Stankovych “Pankour for the dead from starvation”, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933. For the first time, a large-scale musical work was not just performed in concert format, but turned into a full-fledged theatrical performance-requiem.
The production was carried out by the director Zhanna Chepela together with the artist Iryna Stepnova. Behind the conductor’s console was Dmitry Morozov. The performance teamed three choirs – the KHNATOB choir, the choir of the boys of the theater and the student choir of the Kharkiv Conservatory. Choirmasters O. Chumak, O. Perishina and I. Syrotenko. In total, about 130 performers were on the stage at the same time, and together with the symphony orchestra, which consisted of almost 90 musicians, the production became one of the largest in the repertoire of the theater.
The figurative decision of the play was innovative. The tablet of the stage for the first time in the history of the theater was raised at an angle of 45 degrees. His scenography resembled a charred black loaf – a symbol of the destroyed life and the selected bread, and the space behind the stage opened a panorama of space, emphasizing the universal scale of the tragedy.
For the first time in the history of KhNATOB, archival photo and video materials of the Holodomor were actively used in the play. Documentary footage became part of the stage action, combined with music, plasticity and choral scenes.
One of the strongest episodes was a plastic composition, in which the choir artists seemed to fall under the blows of the “wheel of the Holodomor”. Removing the elements of costumes, they folded the ornament of the Ukrainian embroidered shirt on the raised tablet of the stage. Gradually, this pattern turned into an road that ran through the entire stage as a symbol of memory, life and procreation.
The finale of the performance was particularly touching. The children from the choir descended to the auditorium, holding small bags of grain in their hands. They handed them out to the people with the words: “Please share.” This simple gesture was a reminder of the most terrible crime – the time when people gave their lives for a handful of grain.
The staged process lasted only two weeks (excluding the musical training of performers), but the performance made an extraordinary impression. After the premiere, the hall did not applaud. The audience stood silently and stood 8-10 minutes in complete silence. According to the participants of the production, the staff of the theater also cried behind the scenes. It was not just a theatrical premiere – it was an act of joint memory, which could not be measured with applause.