On Rusalchyn Easter

"The Water Nymph's Easter" (Na Rusalchyn Velykden) — a dramatic opera étude in one act, based on the lyrical fantasy opera by the renowned composer Mykola Leontovych, inspired by Borys Hrinchenko’s fairy-tale plot.

This was the first major symphonic work the composer began working on in 1919. The first act of Mykola Leontovych’s "The Water Nymph's Easter" was premiered in 1920. The Maestro intended to expand it into a three-act opera, but fate intervened—on the night of January 23, 1921, Mykola Leontovych was treacherously murdered in his father's house.

The plot is a fairy-tale fantasy: a Cossack, wandering along the banks of the Dnipro on a summer night before Pentecost—during the "Water Nymph's Easter"—encounters rusalkas (water nymphs) basking under the silver rays of the moon. Noticing the stranger, the nymphs challenge him with riddles and try to drag him underwater, but the youngest rusalka saves him, dissolving into the rays of the morning sun. The realms of fantasy and reality collide, proving that love is stronger than death!

Audiences can look forward to a modern production and a fresh musical interpretation!