Ukrainian opera GAIA-24 becomes laureate of Music Theatre Now
Ukrainian opera GAIA-24. Opera del Mondo, which explores the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, created by the Opera Aperta laboratory, has become a laureate of the international Music Theatre Now competition.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda.Kultura
Details: From more than 200 submissions worldwide, the jury selected the work of Ukrainian composers Roman Hryhoriv and Illia Razumeiko. The project was included among the seven most outstanding music theatre productions globally for the 2023-2025 season.
Quote from the project's authors: "We are grateful to the jury for this recognition. Thanks to many years of support from several European festivals, independent contemporary Ukrainian opera, created by Ukrainian artists from Ukrainian landscapes, stories, bodies and voices – an opera that paradoxically is not needed in Ukraine – remains needed for the world and Europe and continues to exist in our laboratory in Kyiv."
Details: Work on GAIA-24. Opera del Mondo began after Russia destroyed the Kakhovka dam in 2023. Video materials for the opera were filmed on Khortytsia Island (Zaporizhzhia Oblast) in autumn 2023.
The opera premiered in Kyiv in May 2024. It was later staged in Rotterdam at O. Festival, in Vienna at Musiktheatertage Wien, at the 60th Venice Biennale and at the Schall&Rausch festival in Berlin. In 2025, GAIA-24 returned to Ukraine in a revised version.
The opera explores the destructive human impact on the environment through the lens of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. GAIA-24 refers to the ancient Greek Earth goddess Gaia, the mother of the Sky and all living things, as well as to the hypothesis of the same name that views the planet as a living self-regulating organism.
The production was created by the contemporary opera laboratory Opera Aperta and the proto produkciia agency. During the project's development, three members of the team joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine: co-producer Volodymyr Burkovets and sound engineers Andrii Nidzelskyi and Viacheslav Soboliev.
Materials for the opera were recorded on Khortytsia Island. Photo: Denys Melnyk
This is not the first performance by the team addressing environmental tragedies in Ukraine. They previously worked on the opera Chornobyldorf, parts of which were also used in GAIA-24. Opera del Mondo. Opera Aperta also created the therapeutic performance Lullaby for Mariupol, an important part of the laboratory's repertoire. A new opera, Modraniht. Songs of winter war, is currently in preparation and will have its world premiere on 10 May at the closing of KЇ FEST.
The Music Theatre Now competition is organised by the International Theatre Institute and the Rotterdam Opera Festival. It is held every three years and recognises the most innovative and relevant projects in contemporary music theatre. The award ceremony will take place in May in Rotterdam.
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