Vladislav Buyalsky stood in the center of the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, with his hand on his heart, and sang the national anthem of his country, Ukraine.
It was February 28, when the venue reopened after a month-long hiatus of performances, with only a few days left before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The troupe’s choir and orchestra joined Buyalsky, a member of the Met’s young artists program, in solidarity with him and his suffering people.
Exactly two weeks later, on Monday, Buyalsky, a 24-year-old bass-baritone from the besieged port city of Berdyansk, again stood in the center of the stage, again with his hand on his heart, and sang the anthem with the orchestra and choir.
This time it was not a prelude to Verdi’s Don Carlos, but the beginning of the “Concerto for Ukraine”, an event hastily organized by the Met in support of relief efforts in that country and broadcast there and around the world.
Banners forming the Ukrainian flag stretched across the theatre’s travertine façade, bathed in blue and yellow spotlights. Another flag hung over the stage; some of the spectators brought their own to unroll from the balconies. The Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, Serhiy Kyslytsya, sitting in a place of honor in the center of the stalls, responded to the applause at the beginning of the speech by raising his hands and making a decisive sign of victory.
It was a difficult time for the Met, which broke with Anna Netrebko, its reigning diva, over her unwillingness to speak out against the war and distance herself from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But the conflict also gave the company – still plagued by labor battles despite the significant success left open during the Omicron wave – a sense of unity and moral purpose. Who would have guessed a few months ago that Met CEO Peter Gelb, widely criticized in the ranks for putting many employees on extended unpaid leave during the pandemic, would draw applause from some in the orchestra when he stated from the stage that they were “soldiers of music”?
His remarks had a bellicose undertone, saying that the Met’s work could be “a weapon against oppression”. But most of the concert, directed by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, musical director of the troupe, was comforting, with favorites such as Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” here feverish and unsentimental, and “Va, pensiero” from Verdi’s “Nabucco” with the refrain of exiles, homesick, “so beautiful and lost.” The most powerful was Valentin Silvestrov’s subtle, modest a cappella Prayer for Ukraine, written in 2014 against the backdrop of Maidan protests against Russian influence.
Strauss’ Four Last Songs didn’t quite fit the message, with his autumn vision of accepting the inevitability of death. But it served as a vehicle for the Met’s diva of the day: the young soprano Lisa Davidsen, who currently stars in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos.
At the premiere of Ariadne two weeks ago, Davidsen continued to flood the theater, seemingly eager to prove just how much vibrating sound she could emanate. It was exciting, and a little too much. At Saturday afternoon’s production of the opera, she seemed to be deliberately trying to restrain herself – even a little hesitantly, confusing the phrase in her opening aria and only gradually building up to a true compromise of power and nuance.
On Monday, Davidsen seemed to have found her way again. Her high notes in the first of the Last Four Songs, “Frühling”, had a steely edge rather than a soaring freedom; in “September” it sounded muffled in the lower registers; and in “Beim Schlafengehen” its wording was harsh. But she began “Im Abendrot” with a soft cloud of tone and continued with an effortless glow to a finish that felt light and hopeful.
How the Ukrainian war affects the cultural world
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Paavo Järvi. The Estonian-American conductor was in Moscow directing rehearsals for a performance with a Russian youth orchestra when Russia launched its offensive into Ukraine. When he decided to stay there in order not to disappoint the players, many criticized his choice.
Anna Netrebko. The Russian soprano superstar will no longer perform at the Metropolitan Opera this or next season after failing to comply with the company’s demand to distance itself from Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Potanin. The Guggenheim Museum said the Russian businessman and close associate of Mr. Putin would step down as one of his trustees, and he took over in 2002. Although the reasons for this decision were not given, the museum’s statement mentioned the war in Ukraine.
Alexey Ratmansky. The Kyiv-raised choreographer was preparing a new ballet at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow when the invasion began and immediately decided to leave Moscow. The ballet, which was scheduled to premiere on March 30, has been postponed indefinitely.
Gerard Depardieu. The French actor, who received Russian citizenship in 2013 and is one of Putin’s closest Western celebrities, took a surprising stance when he denounced the war during an interview.
The soloists in the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which closes the concerto, were drawn from the Met’s current line-up: soprano Else van den Heever sings the title role in Handel’s Rodelinde; mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, Eboli in Don Carlos; tenor Pyotr Bechala, Lensky in the upcoming production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin; bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, cameo role in Ariadne.
Nézet-Séguin’s conduct in this famous finale was neither majestic nor patient; when the orchestra is on stage in the Met rather than in the pit, the balances are not ideal for rich unanimity, and the tempo was hectic, a bit staccato. But it was touching to watch the face of Bechala, originally from Poland, change from stone to a smirk. And “Ode to Joy” is bound to impress, especially when Green recites the opening lines with such haunting defiance.
The European Union anthem “Ode to Joy” is music for any inspiring occasion, but especially now. (Perhaps it’s time to follow Leonard Bernstein, who, in directing work immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, replaced cries of “Freude” or “joy” with “Freiheit” – “freedom”.)
However, it’s worth remembering that while this anthem seemed so appropriate on a Monday when the audience exiting the Met is tinged with blue-and-yellow lights shining onto the theatre, it doesn’t always mean what the listener wants him to do. When Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic performed the Ninth Symphony during World War II, the Germans thought Beethoven was writing for them. If this play were played tonight in Moscow, the Russians might think the same.
No matter how you worry, this music does not choose sides and does not change us. It makes us more who we are.
Concert for Ukraine
Performed Monday at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan.