In the historic concert hall of Lviv, the major city in western Ukraine, singers and musicians rehearse for the concert the next day.
On the menu for this highly anticipated evening is the opera Olha by Ukrainian composer Sydir Vorobkevych, a composer born in Chernivtsi in western Ukraine in 1836.
He admits whether Roman, one of the singers, will confidently perform this work on stage: he didn't know before rehearsals began.
“This opera was performed a century and a half ago, and then no one heard about it anymore,” explains the young musician, who claims to sense the Ukrainian character of the work.
This choice to highlight Vorobkevych's opera is that of Igor Shapovalov, the leader of the Luhansk Orchestra, who accompanies the singers. His ensemble, previously based in Donbass in the east of the country, had to seek refuge in Lviv after the Russian invasion began.
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Igor Shapovalov of the Luhansk Orchestra explains that the war pushed musicians to rediscover the works of Ukrainian composers.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Raphaël Bouvier-Auclair
According to Igor Shapovalov, the conflict contributed to the rediscovery of a Ukrainian culture that had been overshadowed by Russian works in recent decades.
We had the impression that there were only these composers [russes] and that we had no composers, he explains. The music director adds that the music is interesting, people just didn't know it.
When we started to look at it more closely, we realized that the music of Ukrainian composers was just as good as that of Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff.
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Before the outbreak of war, Ukrainian works such as the opera Olha by Ukrainian composer Sydir Vorobkevych were less well known than some Russian works.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Raphaël Bouvier-Auclair
Conflict as a source of inspiration
The deputy dean of the Faculty of Culture at Lviv University, Myroslava Tsyhanyk, recalls that even after Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, works of Russian culture still had a place in the courses of university institutions or on the stages of Ukrainian theaters.
The expert explains that since February 2022, many educational and cultural institutions have decided to stop using the Russian language. Theaters, philharmonic halls and opera houses have completely abandoned the works of the Russian aggressor, she explains.
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Even though Lviv is hundreds of kilometers from the front, several signs remind us that there is war in Ukraine.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Raphaël Bouvier-Auclair
In January 2023, Kiev-Mohyla University in the capital Kiev decided to ban the use of the Russian language within its university. When they assert that they do not intend to punish the unruly, those in charge of the institution want to bring about a cultural change.
The war not only gave more space for Ukrainian cultural works, but also pushed artists from the country to create, explains Myroslava Tsyhanyk from the University of Lviv.
At first, the artists wondered whether they were necessary, recalls the professor, who explains that over time several creations inspired by the conflict were presented, including in her city of Lviv. The war caused a lot of pain and suffering, which inspired artists, she explains.
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Roman, a singer, believes music is important for Ukraine during the war.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Raphaël Bouvier-Auclair
The singer Roman, who will be presenting the opera Olha by the Ukrainian composer Vorobkevich accompanied by the Luhansk Orchestra, has no doubts about the role that Ukrainian artists have to play in wartime.
At the moment, culture may not be as important as the armed forces. Yet music is an integral part of our nation. In times of conflict, it is even more important to develop it further, he says.
Our correspondent Raphaël Bouvier-Auclair's radio report on the Ukrainian cultural scene, broadcast on January 19th on the program Ça nous regard, can be found here.