Despite Relentless Russian Attack, Life in Kharkiv Endures Underground (original) (raw)
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Text by Constant Méheut and Oleksandra Mykolyshyn
Daniel Berehulak, Constant Méheut and Oleksandra Mykolyshyn spent several days in Kharkiv, Ukraine, this summer to report this article.
In the war-ravaged city of Kharkiv, where the echoes of air-raid alerts are commonplace, an unlikely sound filled a dimly lit underground garage on a recent morning: the soaring voices of soprano and baritone singers.
Every few moments, the singers were interrupted by the impassioned commands of their director, Oleksii Duhinov, as he paced a makeshift stage during a rehearsal for Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro.”
“You’re standing like a stone!” he shouted at a baritone, grabbing his shoulders as he urged him to gesticulate more while singing. Nearby, fellow performers watched with amusement, seated on rows of black plastic chairs on a gray concrete floor.
This was the new stage of Kharkiv’s National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, now operating dozens of feet underground in a garage where trucks once delivered costumes and scenery. The grand auditorium several floors above, which once held 1,500 people, has been largely empty since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
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Veronika Koval, a mezzo-soprano, resting before a performance at Kharkiv’s National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.
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Musicians preparing in an underground basement.
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