A New Opera from Zoltan Almashi: Live from the Kharkiv Opera Bomb Shelter

Proof of registration, via a QR code on your phone or on paper, will be required to enter Reid Hall. Entry will be refused to those who are not registered. Please note that access will not be permitted 15 minutes after the start of the event.

This event will be held in English, French and Ukrainian.

Organized by the 1991 Project with the Columbia Global Paris Center and Institute for Ideas and Imagination.

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Join us at Reid Hall in Paris for a livestream world premiere of the opera TGS: Journey through Time, broadcast directly from the bomb shelter of the Kharkiv State Opera. The broadcast will be followed by a discussion of the work with the composer Zoltan Almashi and the 1991 Project’s artistic director, musicologist and opera critic Anna Stavychenko.

This bold new work, composed by Zoltan Almashi with a libretto by Olena Pavlova, marks the 210th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s national poet. Inspired by the work of Geo Shkurupiy, a key figure of Ukraine’s "Executed Renaissance," this production reimagines Shevchenko not only as a national symbol, but as a worldly, complex man whose influence spanned every corner of aristocratic Ukraine.

More than a tribute, TGS: Journey through Time is a daring artistic statement, merging past and present to revive cultural life in Ukraine’s war-torn regions. It reflects resilience, resistance, and the transformative power of art amidst destruction.

The 1991 Project

The 1991 Project is a Paris-based initiative that aims to explore and popularize unknown or rarely performed repertoire and to support endangered talents. Its core principles are social entrepreneurship and feminist leadership. The project is led by Anna Stavychenko, a scholar in musicology, opera critic, and classical music curator, former executive director of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Harriman Resident of the Institute for Ideas & Imagination from Columbia University during the season 2022-2023. The project’s main focus is the Ukrainian musical repertoire from classicism to the present day.

The 1991 Project presents Ukrainian Resonance, a chamber music concert series at Reid Hal featuring performances by Ukrainian musicians affected by war, as well as their renowned international colleagues, who are popularizing the Ukrainian repertoire. The series aims to promote Ukrainian music and highlight its deep connections to European cultural trends. This series is organized by the 1991 Project, the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination.

Venue

This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.

Reid Hall, the Columbia Global Paris Center, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination are not responsible for the views and opinions expressed by their speakers and guests.