The cultural sights of Donetsk city

          The acquaintance of any quests of Donetsk with our city one should begin with a visit to the Donetsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. The main virtue of the theatre opera company is a continuous creative search. They search for musical compositions which are in tune with the times, for new means of scenic expressiveness that permit to bring to the listener the maximum of artistic merits of the work of art. Many opera performances were first staged by the Donetsk Opera House.

          The language of true art is international and that is why close creative contacts of the actors from the Donetsk Opera House with the actors from some foreign countries are quite natural. The Peoples Artist of the Ukraine produser E. Kushakov staged, for example, in the Czechoslovak capital the operas "Boris Godunov" by M. Musorgsky and "Ten Days That Shook the World" by M. Karminsky and in Magdeburg (GDR) "Duke Igor" by A. Borodin. In their turn, the art-adviser of the Magdeburg Theatre K. Schneider, choreografer P. Tornev from Bulgaria and the stage artist of the stage artist of the Prague National Theatre O. Simasec took part in staging K.-V. Glucks opera "Orpheus".

          It must be admitted that for a long time the Donetsk ballet was in the shadow of opera. But the situation has been abruptly changed. It is due to appearance of a superstar on the stage of the Donetsk theatre - a very talented dancer Vadim Pisarev. It is difficult, and not only in Donetsk, to get a ticket to the herfomances with his participation. The foreign press, charmed with his tallent, called him "a flying boy", "a man in weightlessness", "a little prince".

          Pisarevs phenomenon is a combination of inborn talent with extraordinary diligence that resulted in a great talent. The young leader of the Donetsk ballet (he was born in 1964) has no heredity of a dancer. He was born to a simple miners family, one of thousands in Donetsk. Since the age of six he danced in the circle for studying at the Pioneers Palace, then he danced in one of the Donetsk childrens choreographic companies. The outstanding abilities of the "flying boy" were clear to specialists even at that time, and young Pisarev went to Kiev, from where he returned after studying at a choreographic school as a master of classical ballet.

          After success at republican and all-union competitions too. He was a prize-winner at the tournaments in Helsinki, a silver laureate in Paris and at last a golden laureate in Moscow and Jackson (USA). Connoisseurs of ballet from Japan, the FRG, Holland, Belgium and other countries where Pisarev took part together with other talented dancers in the international tours "Stars of the World" applauded the "little prince" of Donetsk.

          The appearance of so bright a leader in the Donetsk theatre ballet company had a wholesome effect on the creative work of the whole company. It "spread its wings", got a belief in its abilities, got rid of the "provincial complex" and started to dance successfully abroad in the best theatres of the world. In winter 1989 the Donetsk ballet led by Pisarev went on its triumphant tour through the cities of the USA. The "Washington Post" newspaper noting "rich historical traditions of the Russian classical dance" wrote about the Donetsk ballet the following: "Demonstrated high professional skill is a startling confirmation of fact that there are talented people not only in Moscow and Leningrad". Branches of two great and close to each other cultures - Russian and Ukrainian - got entangled on the Donetsk cultural tree. That is why the plays of the Donetsk Ukrainian Musical Drama Theatre named after Artem are staged in two languages. The appearance of this theatre in Donetsk is a rather unusual event. The full staff of the theatre company was transferred from Kharkov, another large centre of the Ukraine, in 1933. The theatre moved to enrich the cultural life of the miners city. And its muse was not silent even during Second World War, when guns "were not silent". The theatre had been temporarily evacuated to Asia Minor from where the Donetsk actors went to the front to perform in the army hospitals. At that time they collected 100 thousand roubles from their own savings for the manufacture of a tank named after the Artem Theatre, and handed this military machine over to the Soviet Army soldiers.

          National Ukrainian classical plays are always performed on the stage of this theatre as well as works by Russian and foreign dramatists. Many generations of spectators remember the performances after I. Franko, T. Shevchenko, A. Ostrovsky, N. Gogol, A. Chekhov, W. Shekespeare, J. Pristley. The theatre company often goes on tours both throughout the whole country.

          The Donetsk Puppet Theatre is of the same age as the Donetsk Musical Drama Theatre. More than 10 million adult and young spectators visited the theatre during the period of its existence. It is true that the company got its own stage only 50 years after its birth, but the life of the vagrant actors had, along with disadvantages, its advantages. Palaces of culture, clubs, schools and kindergartens became the working place of the Puppet Theatre actors, and everywhere they were always met with joy and warmth.

          The name of the world-known composer S. Prokofiev, a native of this region, is carved on the pediment of the Concert Hall of the Donetsk Regional Philharmonic Society. The Society began its musical educational activities in 1931. The first cast of the symphonic orchestra was formed by N. Rahlin, son of a military bandmaster, the outstanding conductor. Creative achivements of many famous musicians are connected with this orchestra. Such musicians as K. Ivanov, K. Kondrashin, K. Simeonov, S. Turchak as well as famous musicians from foreign countries - Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Egypt, Argentina, Canada - stood at the conductors stand here.

          The list of famous performers who played solo in the concerts of the Donetsk symphonic orchestra is not less brilliant. S. Rikhter, L. Kogan, P. Serebriakov, L. Oborin played here.

          Other companies of the Donetsk Philharmonic Society are interesting in their own way. They are, for instance, the violinists ensemble, the vocalists ensemble and the ensemble of variety actors. The Donetsk Philharmonic Society practically constantly arranges the concerts of ukrainian and foreign performers in the city.

          Becides theatres and concert halls for quests of our city are open two museums - the Museum of Local and the Art Museum. In the first of them there are 100 thousand exhibits telling about the history of the Donetsk land, its customs and traditions, the todays life of the industrial region. The second museum waits for connoiseurs of painting, graphics, sculpture, folk art. For years of its existence the Donetsk art Museum has collected 8000 works of Ukrainian, Russian and foreign fine arts.