Odesa Opera Theater
Odesa is a famous Ukrainian city with its seaside flair, humor, and, of course, art. It is also home to one of the most beautiful opera theaters in Europe.
The first theater was erected here back in 1810, but was destroyed by a big fire 63 years later. The new opera theater was completed only in 1887 – but it was worth the wait. The already famous Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer were invited to develop the project. It was a kind of field-specific business: theaters in Vienna, Budapest, Salzburg, and other cities were built under the projects by Fellner and Helmer. In Ukraine, the Austrians worked with local Odesa architects. Such cooperation resulted in the local opera theater, which was a real architectural masterpiece.
This three-story building in the Viennese Baroque style seems lightweight, as if levitating above the ground. The sculptural group above the facade depicts Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, in a chariot drawn by four panthers with Orpheus playing the cithara for the centaur and dancing Terpsichore, the muse of dance, below. There is a luxurious hall in the Rococo style decorated with stuccoed gilded ornaments inside. Even the ceiling is impressive – there are four medallion paintings featuring Shakespeare's plays and a grand yet subtle chandelier.
For a century and a half, the theater has been hosting countless outstanding performances, and its 500 square meter stage has welcomed Enrico Caruso, Solomiya Krushelnytska, Pablo Sarasate, Fiodir Shaliapin, and Isadora Duncan. The theater has only ever closed for periodic reconstructions. That, and after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Even despite the chaos of war, the theater had already reopened for audiences by summer 2022. The show must go on, art shall not bow and cease due to aggression. Especially the art created in the legendary Odesa Opera Theater.
Nastya Vogan
Hailing from Kyiv, currently based in Berlin, Nastya Vogan is a DJ, musician and renowned ∄ resident. Nastya approaches high-intensity dance music tracks as artefacts for engineering odd and varied sonic adventures, she constructs DJ-sets/live performances utilizing samples and loops from social media, thus exploring both the potential of four-deck mixing and the sonic treasury that is the Internet for a keen ear like hers.
Nastya Vogan does her own music production and composition, ranging from full-fledged live solo performances to creative collaborations, such as recently for an electronic mono opera with Albert van Abbe at Draaimolen festival. A commissioned performance as part of Mariana Berezovska's project "Letters to Kyiv", appearances at the CTM festival, Berlin Atonal, a quarterly residence on EOS radio, a continuous residence at Kyiv's ∄, educational work as a co-runner of Module Exchange electronic music school in Kyiv, — these are all among Nastya's various strains of creative and cultural activity.
As a DJ, Nastya Vogan has played at Berghain, Le Sucre, Fabric, Berlin Atonal, Oxi, EOS air, RSO, Lizdas Club, Rotte Sonne, IFZ and many more