Oksana Krovytska receives raves as an impassioned "Butterfly" (09/19/99)

Oksana Krovytska receives raves as an impassioned "Butterfly"

by Helen P. Smindak

NEW YORK - In her seventh consecutive season with the New York City Opera, Ukrainian soprano Oksana Krovytska has again received high praise from New York critics for her performance in the title role of Puccini's most poignant opera, "Madama Butterfly."

The lyric dramatic soprano, appearing as Cio-Cio-San in "Butterfly" for the fourth successive year, opened the City Opera's fall season at the New York State Theater on Saturday, September 11.

She is scheduled to sing her favorite role on September 15, 18 and 24 and on October 1, 3, 6, 9 and 23.

Reviewers' compliments on Ms. Krovytska's performance took precedence over their comments about the theater's recently installed "acoustical enhancement system," said to alter reverberation patterns but not necessarily make music louder.

Bernard Holland of The New York Times, usually a hard taskmaster, had good comments to make about the fresh-looking uncluttered stage set and Puccini's ever-lovely music, but saved his finest compliments for Ms. Krovytska.

"The center of attention was also the object of our admiration. Oksana Krovytska sang beautifully as Cio-Cio-San. The voice works; its sincerity grips the air, and it is tempered by a judicious musicality," Mr. Holland recorded in the September 13 Times.

Mr. Holland felt that Ms. Krovytska's voice carried easily "in this ungainly theater."

"If acoustical monkey business was going on at Saturday's performance, I freely admit that I didn't hear it," Mr. Holland said. "As usual, mediocre voices did not carry, good ones (Ms. Krovytska's in particular) did."

The New York Post's Shirley Fleming was struck by Ms. Krovytska's "impassioned and vulnerable" interpretation of Butterfly. "(Ms. Krovytska) delivered a sweetly modulated 'Un bel di' that prompted the audience's vigorous approval," Ms. Fleming noted.

The New York Post critic also applauded Ms. Krovytska and Rafael Rojas, as Pinkerton, for investing a lot of "emotional energy" into their roles. "Their first-act duet soared impressively, and their passion was conveyed mainly through the music and not - as in some productions - through excessive physical convolutions," she said.

Martin Bernheimer of Newsday, who said Ms. Krovytska portrayed "the geisha with the heart of mush" with a brightly affecting voice that was "little tight on top," believes the Ukrainian soprano is "underrated."

A quarter-page photo of Ms. Krovytska and Mr. Rojas in "Madama Butterfly" graced the front page of The New York Times' Weekend section on September 10, drawing attention to NYCO's opening night and Allan Kozinn's dissertation on the State Theater's new sound system.

Last season, Ms. Krovytska was praised for her impressive work in NYCO's new "Butterfly" production, originally staged at the Glimmerglass Opera in 1997 and combining traditional and abstract elements in a set built around an imposing staircase.

Ms. Krovytska was honored earlier this year as "the outstanding female NYCO artist who has reached an important stage in her career." She received the Diva Award, consisting of $2,000 cash and Diva perfume products from Ungaro.

A leading soprano with the City Opera since 1993, when she made her debut as Liu in "Turandot," Ms. Krovytska has appeared at the City Opera as both Musetta and Mimi in "La Bohéme," Violetta in "La Traviata," Yaroslavna in "Prince Igor," Micaela in "Carmen" and Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni."

Other career highlights include appearances with Opera de Monte Carlo, the Colorado Symphony, the New American Chamber Orchestra, the West Virginia Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Milwaukee Symphony. She has often performed at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York and at the Music and Art Center of Greene County at the Grazhda in Hunter, N.Y.

In upcoming engagements the Lviv-born soprano will sing the title role in Janecek's "Katya Kabanova" with the Miami Opera and Opera de Montréal, and will perform in "Fedora" with the Palm Beach Opera and "Madama Butterfly" with the Florentine Opera. Ms. Krovytska will sing her first "Tosca" with the Teatro de la Opera Puerto Rico and will appear with the New Jersey Symphony in Dvorak's "Requiem," to be recorded by Delos International.

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