Lviv will mark Solomiya Krushelnytska’s birthday with a full week of events. The singer’s music and memorial museum will organise open days, concerts, lectures and tours dedicated to her life and work from 21 to 27 September.
All events will take place at the Solomiya Krushelnytska Museum at 23 Solomiya Krushelnytska Street in Lviv. From 21 to 27 September, the museum will hold open days: visitors will be able to view the exhibition free of charge and learn more about the path of the Ukrainian opera star. The institution will be open every day except Tuesday, from 11:00 to 18:00.
The main event will be a celebratory concert for Solomiya Krushelnytska’s birthday, scheduled for 23 September at 20:00. Bass arias from operas by Ukrainian and European composers will be performed, including works by Mykola Lysenko, Stanisław Moniuszko, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Charles Gounod and Semen Hulak-Artemovsky. The programme will also feature romances and songs by Franz Schubert, Yakiv Stepovyi, Francesco Paolo Tosti and Liudmyla Aleksandrova.
The concert will feature an Honoured Artist of Ukraine, a soloist of the Lviv National Opera and the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. At the piano will be Iryna Lytvynenko, a leading répétiteur at the National Music Academy of Ukraine.
On 24 September at 18:00, Ivan Dudych will lead a guided tour entitled “The Triumph of Butterfly”, devoted to one of the brightest chapters in Krushelnytska’s international career – her return to the role of Cio-Cio-san in Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madama Butterfly”.
The following day, 25 September at 18:00, Halyna Tykhobaieva will give a lecture, “Krushelnytska and Puccini: crossroads of destinies”, which will explore the creative meetings, professional contacts and relationship between the outstanding Ukrainian singer and the Italian composer.
The themed week will conclude on 27 September at 15:00 with a guided tour by Lesia Kyryk, “The five sisters of Solomiya Krushelnytska”. The tour will focus on the opera diva’s family, her sisters and the environment in which the personality of the future global star was formed.
During this period, visitors will have the opportunity to see Solomiya Krushelnytska not only as a world-renowned performer, but also as a daughter, sister, colleague and a person with rich life experience and numerous creative encounters.
The Solomiya Krushelnytska Museum in Lviv was opened in 1989 in the singer’s former house. Since 1995, it has operated as a separate institution and is the city’s only museum with a musical profile. Each month, the museum organises around 40 events – chamber concerts, themed tours, lectures, presentations and exhibitions.
The museum’s collection comprises over 25,000 items: Solomiya Krushelnytska’s personal belongings, photographs, documents, manuscripts, theatre posters, letters and other materials related to her life and stage career. A separate reserve collection of the museum contains over 18,000 items, is constantly being expanded with new acquisitions, and serves as an important basis for research work.