Bringing Ukrainian Opera to Life Through Art: Behind the Scenes of the UCVP Project
When Music Finds Its Voice — And Art Joins the Chorus
In 2022, my inbox brought something unexpected and deeply moving: a message on Instagram from Irina Petrik, a Kyiv-born Ukrainian-American soprano passionate about promoting Ukrainian music, culture, and heritage on the global stage. She was launching the Ukrainian Classical Voice Project (UCVP)—a groundbreaking initiative dedicated to amplifying the voices of underrepresented Ukrainian composers while celebrating the nation's rich classical music heritage through education, performance, and community outreach.
At the time, Irina was just starting UCVP and needed a few illustrations for the brand along with a logo. From our first conversation, we felt an immediate creative and emotional connection—as if we had known each other for years. Our collaboration quickly blossomed into a genuine friendship, built on shared values and the deep belief in the power of art as cultural resistance.
Being so closely aligned with Irina’s vision, I intuitively translated her ideas into meaningful visuals. One of our first projects was a delicate animation: an opera singer surrounded by Ukrainian folk-inspired flowers growing from her heart. This piece has become a signature of UCVP, seen on their website and before every event, setting the tone for what follows.
Mavka from The Forest Song by Vitaliy Kyreiko, Elvira from Le Faucon by Dmytro Bortnyansky, The New Mermaid (Rusalka) from On The Water Nymph’s Easter by Mykola Leontovych
As the project evolved, so did the scale of our work together. The largest and most meaningful project began in the summer of 2024, when Irina approached me with an ambitious idea: to create an anthology of Ukrainian operatic arias for different voice types, a unique educational publication designed for students, educators, and performers. Each volume would include IPA transcriptions, English translations, contextual notes, and—crucially—illustrations to bring the arias to life. The challenge was both artistic and deeply personal: to reflect the essence of each aria, capture the emotional nuance of the characters, and honor the cultural depth of Ukraine’s operatic tradition.
The goal was clear and inspiring: when a singer, opens the book, they should instantly feel the emotional and cultural atmosphere of the aria. A single illustration should help them understand the scene, embody the character, and channel the story with authenticity and depth.
To create each illustration, Irina provided me with detailed introductions. I then immersed myself in the world of each opera—reading the libretto, researching historical context, studying performances on YouTube, and digging into visual references. I explored the era's fashion, interior design, cultural motifs, and found the fonts and decorative details that best matched the emotional tone of each piece. This preparatory phase often took between 6 and 24 hours per artwork, depending on the complexity and how deep I needed to go—for some, I even read academic articles and sifted through archival photographs.
Once I felt ready, I sketched the line art and shared it with Irina for feedback—ensuring the posture, gestures, and facial expressions truly conveyed the character’s emotional landscape. Then came the color draft, another round of discussion, and finally, the fully rendered artwork, rich in detail and symbolic nuance. The illustration and revision stage alone took between 24 and 40 hours per piece.
For Myroslava from The Golden Crown by Borys Lyatoshynsky, I incorporated ornamental motifs inspired by the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Some characters flowed effortlessly—like Rusalka and Venus, whose light, ethereal nature came intuitively. Others required more time and care: Roxelana, Oksana, and Natalka involved intricate historical costumes and elaborate backgrounds. Mavka demanded hours of delicate linework (I drew hundreds of leaves), while Kateryna was a deeply emotional figure—so intense that I kept postponing her, waiting for the right state of mind to do her justice.
For certain pieces, I drew visual inspiration from the works of Alphonse Mucha, whose poetic, feminine vision has always been a guiding light for me. Throughout the entire process, my priority was historical and emotional accuracy—so every detail, from the embroidery on a sleeve to the mood of the setting, felt true to the story and the soul of Ukrainian culture.
Among the pieces I illustrated were arias and ariosos that span a remarkable emotional and thematic range—from mythical forest spirits to historical queen. I brought to life scenes from The Forest Song by Vitaliy Kyreiko, including Mavka’s aria “O ne zhurysya za tilo,” embodying nature’s voice and tragic love. I depicted the fierce grace of Roxelana, the historical queen and political figure, in her moments of power and vulnerability from Denys Sichynsky’s opera. I interpreted the romantic spirit of Oksana from Cossack Beyond The Danube by Semen Hulak-Artemovsky. Elvira, from Le Faucon by Dmytro Bortnyansky, appeared in a moment of poetic melancholy, while Venus charmed with her lighthearted waltz “Zvut’ mene lyudy” from Lysenko’s Aeneid. Each illustration was designed to evoke the atmosphere of the aria through gesture, costume, setting, and mood—so singers and audiences alike could feel the story beyond the notes.
Creating these illustrations wasn’t just about capturing visual beauty—it became a deeply personal journey. With each character, I stepped into their world, their era, their emotions. I wasn’t just drawing; I was listening. Listening to voices that had been overlooked for too long, to melodies rooted in centuries of resilience, to the quiet strength of cultural memory trying to be seen and heard again.
Natalka from Natalka-Poltavka by Mykola Lysenko, Roksolana from Roksolana by Denys Sichynsky
What moved me most was how this work brought together everything I care about—art, history, identity, and emotional storytelling. It reminded me that illustration can be more than beauty; it can be a form of advocacy, preservation, and healing.
Kyiv Opera House, the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine, sketch for the operatic arias book cover.
I plan to create a story for each character, offering a glimpse into the opera and composer behind them. These will be shared in future blog posts, where I'll explore the essence of each role, delve into the history of the opera, and highlight the composers’ artistic intentions. Each post will uncover the emotional depth of the characters and the powerful music that brings them to life.
I'm endlessly proud of this collaboration, and of the brave work UCVP is doing to give space—and voice—to what has long been silenced. These pieces will not only appear in the anthology but will also be available as UCVP merchandise, including posters, tote bags, t-shirts, scarves, and more—stay tuned...
You can explore more about the project and see our beautiful photos from the events at ucvp.org
And if you’re a fellow artist, educator, or curator—let’s talk. I'd love to connect and collaborate where art meets meaning.