Theatre of war: Odesa’s opera staff join Ukraine resistance effort

The singers and musicians of Odesa's opera should be spending this month rehearsing a new production and preparing for a tour of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Instead members of the city's renowned opera and ballet companies are filling sandbags and dishing out rations to defence volunteers. Some are even learning how to strip down and assemble Kalashnikov rifles to prepare for possible urban fighting.

Odesa's majestic opera house forms the cultural heart of Ukraine's third largest city and with the city under threat from the Russian invasion, the opera has joined the resistance effort.

Andrii Kharlamov, a bass-baritone who has won several international competitions, told The Telegraph that since Vladimir Putin's forces attacked, he felt he had to do something to help the war effort.

The 33-year-old no longer has time to rehearse. He fills sandbags at a yacht club on the Black Sea coast and he is also joining volunteers having basic weapons training.

“It's impossible to be carefree. Many of the employees of the theatre are coming here right now,” he said, helping load sandbags onto a lorry.

“The singers, the dancers, the musicians, they are all here. The teachers in the conservatories are also here. We are all united, just to protect our land.”

Odesans consider the opera house the jewel of their city and boast that it has few peers around the world. Formally called the Odessa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, it was built from 1884 by Austrian architects. During the Second World War, anti-aircraft batteries were mounted on all the surrounding roofs to keep it safe from German bombers.

Now, 80 years later, Putin's forces are menacing the city from both the Black Sea and from an armoured push which has reached Mykolaiv 80 miles east. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the weekend warned the city was at imminent risk of Russian bombardment and artillery.

The continued significance of the opera house can be seen in the preparations to guard it. The entire historic centre around the opera house is closed off and secured by sentries. Streets approaching the opera are blocked off by sandbags and tank traps.

“We consider it one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world,” says Yulia Tereschuk, a soprano. “Certainly in the top three. It's beautiful inside and out.”

Her singing is now on hold as she helps feed volunteers by distributing cooked meals to checkpoints which ring the city.

The opera and ballet between them employ some 1,000 singers, dancers and backstage staff and each is looking for a way to help, says Yuri Dudar, a baritone.

“Lots of us gave blood on the first day of the conflict,” he says. “Many of us are participating in territorial defence units.”

The singers are also called on to use their performance skills to raise spirits. As volunteers dig into the sand in the chilly wind, Mr Kharlamov suddenly strikes up a spirited rendition of the national anthem. When he finishes the assembled labourers cheer and send curses towards the unseen Russian ships cruising off the Black Sea coast.

On Wednesday the Kyiv Classic Symphony Orchestra entertained onlookers in the capital's Maidan Square. 

Earlier this week The Telegraph witnessed a military band strike up outside Odesa's opera house and play "Don't Worry, Be Happy”.

Mr Kharlamov is also undergoing basic training alongside community volunteers at a makeshift training centre in a city tower block. Classes include how to use a rifle and how to conduct basic first aid. In a nearby corridor boyish-looking young men are taught the rudiments of urban warfare and how to prowl down city streets in formation.

Mr Kharlamov said: “Of course I am worried a lot about the opera building and architecture of Odesa, but even more, I'm worried about the local people and we want them to stay alive and protect them.”

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