Visiting the Lviv National Opera for its 125th anniversary was an unforgettable experience – not only for the splendour of the building and the artistry on stage, but for the powerful symbolism of art persevering amid adversity. The celebration centered around a deeply moving performance of Francis Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmélites and the International Scientific Conference “The Opera Theatre in Times of Historical Challenges: Retrospective and Modern Messages.” Our host, Vasyl Vovkun, Administrative and Artistic Director of the Lviv National Opera, and his entire team led by Ostap Hromysh, gave us a warm and generous welcome.
As Executive Director of Opera Europa, I was honoured to be invited, together with my colleague Sebastian Schwarz, to speak at the conference and take part in the anniversary celebrations. It was humbling to meet artists, scholars and administrators who continue to sustain cultural life despite the daily realities of war. Their determination to keep performing, teaching, and sharing music is both inspiring and deeply moving.
Sebastian gave his address at the gala in Ukrainian, which drew great applause from the audience, and he came away with many impressions: “What struck me most in Lviv was not only the courage to keep going, but the quiet pride with which artists and institutions insist on being recognised as equal partners. Ukraine’s operatic world does not ask for pity – it asks to be seen and heard within the shared European narrative. Each visit reveals more of a culture that was long obscured yet is profoundly rich in musical and human depth.
To engage with our Ukrainian colleagues is to learn – about resilience, about integrity, and about the unbroken belief that art is not a luxury of peace, but an act of identity. In that sense, their work does not merely endure; it illuminates. Together, we keep alight the same fragile but vital torch – the conviction that opera, in all its beauty and complexity, remains a living expression of who we are and what we stand for.”
Lviv, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, remains one of Europe’s great architectural treasures, and has flourished for centuries as a centre of trade and culture, its urban landscape shaped by diverse communities. The opera house, completed in 1900, exemplifies this rich heritage, combining Renaissance Revival and Neo-Baroque styles with touches of Art Nouveau.
During my stay, I gained a small but sobering glimpse of what life under threat entails when an air alarm for a drone attack sounded in the middle of the night, sending us to the hotel’s bomb shelter. The long queues at the border on the return journey were another poignant reminder of how fortunate we are to live in free and peaceful countries.
But I leave the last words to my colleague Sebastian: Разом ми зберігаємо те саме крихке, але життєво важливе полум’я – переконання, що опера, у всій своїй красі та складності, залишається живим виразом того, ким ми є і за що стоїмо. (Together we preserve that same fragile but vital flame – the belief that opera, in all its beauty and complexity, remains a living expression of who we are and what we stand for.)
Karen Stone
Executive Director
