“Creonte” Returns to the Stage

After nearly 250 years of oblivion, Dmytro Bortniansky’s first opera will be revived.

On 3 October 2025, the world premiere of the stage production of the first opera by Ukrainian composer Dmytro Bortniansky, “Creonte”, will take place in Chernivtsi. A co-organizer of this landmark event is the Global Harmony Art Foundation.

The performance will be hosted by the Olha Kobylianska Chernivtsi Academic Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre, a venue with a 120-year history whose architecture and acoustics closely resemble those of the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice – the theatre where “Creonte” was first premiered in 1776. Despite the resounding success of the 25-year-old Ukrainian’s work, the opera’s score and other musical materials mysteriously disappeared, and for centuries the opera was believed to be irretrievably lost for humanity.

In 2023, Ukrainian musicologist Olha Shumilina discovered the missing score in the archives of the Royal Ajuda Library in Lisbon, Portugal. Following a lengthy digitization process, the opera was given its world premiere in concert form on 11 November 2024 at the Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in Kyiv.

The next step is a full-scale theatrical staging, preparations for which have been underway for several months. A wide circle of artists is involved: performers from the Chernivtsi Music and Drama Theatre and the Dmytro Hnatyuk Chernivtsi Regional Philharmonic soloists from Kyiv and Lviv, choir and orchestra members, stage and costume designers from Kyiv, and many others. Most of the large-scale sets and costumes for the soloists are also being produced in the capital.

The opera “Creonte” will be performed in Italian, with Ukrainian surtitles. After the world premiere on 3 October, there will be a second performance on 5 October. Subsequently, “Creonte” is planned to be included in the repertoire of the theatre, with a special emphasis on Chernivtsi’s own soloists and musicians.

The premiere is being held within the framework of the project “Returning to the World of Dmytro Bortniansky’s First Opera “Creonte”, initiated by Herman Makarenko, UNESCO Artist for Peace, who is also the conductor and music director of the world premiere.