Oksana Lyniv became the first female conductor at a famous opera festival

1262 0
Lyniv opened the festival on July 25 with the premiere of «Flying Dutchman».
Photo by LvivMozArt

Photo by LvivMozArt

Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, a native of Lviv, became the first woman to open the world’s most famous opera festival, in its 145th year, in the German town of Bayreuth, dedicated to composer Richard Wagner. The festival opened on July 25 with the premiere of «Flying Dutchman». Among the spectators were German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband.

Oksana was born in Brody, the Lviv region, in a family of musicians. Her father Yaroslav Lyniv is the leader of the folk choir in Brody «Boyan» (named after a famous bard of Kievan Rus’).

After graduating from Lviv Music College, Oksana Lyniv chose the profession of conductor, despite the fact that she knew no female conductors in Ukraine at that time. In 2004, the musician became a finalist of the Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Germany. For a long time she was an assistant conductor of the Odessa Opera theater, and at the Bavarian State Opera, she worked as an assistant to its general musical director Kyrylo Petrenko for several seasons in a row. 

«The profession of a conductor is very complex. It takes into account many different qualities – you need to have the features of a leader, figurative thinking, you should love the stage, theater, have a sense of direction, love and understand the vocals, be able to combine many components into one whole, have dramatic thinking to work with large forms. These are all things I enjoy» – the musician believes.

According to the results of 2015, Oksana Lyniv was recognized as the best conductor of the Bavarian State Opera in the «Classical Music» nomination. In parallel, she works as a guest conductor in various theaters in Europe. Lyniv also founded the International Classical Music Festival «LvivMozArt’’ in Lviv and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (YsOU). 

«Ninety percent of my time I spend abroad, where I constantly work with various music groups. And whenever I find interesting soloists or see somebody of great interest, I talk to them, conduct preliminary negotiations, and wonder if they would like to come to Lviv for LvivMozArt. This facilitates the first contact, as most of them are coming to Ukraine for the first time» – she says.

In 2020, Oksana Lyniv received the «Oper!Awards» from leading German critics, founded by the opera magazine Oper! Das Magazin.

«In Ukraine, I am independent because I manage my own projects. The men I work with are like-minded people who support me and admire me», – the musician adds.

Interview by Anna Zhurba

Trabslated by Vitalii Holich

Photo by LvivMozArt and YsOU

Full or partial publication of the text without the consent of the editors is prohibited and will be considered copyright infringement.

This media product was produced by TvoeMisto.tv with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The product content is solely created by  ;TvoeMisto.tv and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the US Government. Reproduction and use of any part of this product in any format, including graphic, electronic, copying or use in any other way without the corresponding reference to the original source and written approval from TvoeMisto.tv, shall be prohibited.

To receive our weekly email digest of stories, please follow us on Substack.

 

 


Читайте також:
+
Щодня наша команда працює над тим, щоб інформувати Вас про найважливіше в місті та області. За роки своєї праці ми довели, що «Твоє місто» - це медіа, якому справді можна довіряти. Долучіться до Спільноти Прихильників «Твого міста» та збережіть незалежне медіа для громади. Кожен внесок має значення!