Young Ukrainian talents join their peers from Guatemala, N.Macedonia and 30 other countries to stage an opera about fighting for happiness and freedom in Salzburg.
For a weeklong period, international scholarship winners, Ukrainians Alina Liubchenko (16) and Polina Rozumnyak (14), will be working side-by-side with the world known artists and mentors staging the modern youth version of the Káťa Kabanova opera written by Czech composer Leoš Janáček in 1920s.
Both girls gained this unique opportunity to represent the voice of their country at the Europe’s biggest classical performance event as the result of participating in the year-long fellowship program managed by Creative Fellowship initiative internationally. The program exposes culturally curious young people from economically challenged countries to artistic professions and career opportunities in the filed through workshops, celebrity talks, master classes, and Art+English trainings. By participating in the fellowship’s virtual activities youngsters receive intercultural experience and gain life essential skills valuable for their further career development being that employment or private entrepreneurship.
Starting from February 2022 Creative Fellowship program opened its online access to all Ukrainian teenagers regardless their artistic skills and competences.
This June six fellows with talents in different art forms that showed high academic results in English training, personal involvement into most of the fellowship activities and exceptional creativity at the final presentation were awarded stipends that cover weekly trip expenses, accommodation, and participatory fees in the opera camp for children and youth in Salzburg, Austria.
In 2022 the fellowship program’s research was focused on the theme of “Freedoms and choices” and used Cinderella – the most known fairy tale in the world – as a case study for exploring how the same story can be told in different cultures and by different art forms.
In Salzburg the scholars will continue their scenic and musical exploration of the theme through working on the musical portrait of Káťa Kabanova, a young woman who fights both passionately and desperately for happiness and freedom while been torn between her feelings of remorse and the moral standards of society. The final public performance of this staging will take place on July 6 at Salzburg’s largest independent cultural center, ARGEkultur.
@Creative.Fellowship edutaining initiative is run by the voluntarily community of philanthropists, educators and creative professionals in opera, ballet, theater, classical music, visual and applied arts who spare their time and share skills to support young fellow artists and promote arts to the new generations, making classics more accessible and understandable.
The fellowship supports these young people in pursuing their creative potential, thereby contributing to improvements in the quality of life in underprivileged economies.
In Ukraine this initiative is supported by Pobugsky Ferronickel Plant.