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Scope Travel
wishes you and yours a
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
MEETING OKSANA LYNIV
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It was May 2023, and I was still seeking genuine enthusiasm from potential tourists wishing to travel to the George Enescu Music Festival in Bucharest, Romania, during Fall 2023. Realizing that I might need to cancel it and organize a new tour, I called my daughter, Adriana. I asked her to find me a few potential music performances in mid-October near Montecatini Terme, a small town in Tuscany that I used to travel to. Montecatini Terme is a spa town known for its hot springs. I hoped the warm Tuscan sun might entice my senior clientele to travel. Adriana called back a few days later and said, "Mamo, you were born under a lucky star. Oksana Lyniv will be conducting at Teatro Comunale di Bologna. If you organize a tour to Italy to see Maestra Lyniv conduct, people will go!"
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Without hesitating, I organized a 10-day tour TUSCANY TOUR featuring concerts in Florence, Modena, and Sienna. The highlight of our trip would be Rossini's opera "Le Comte Ory," conducted by Maestra Lyniv at Teatro Comunale di Bologna on Sunday, October 22, 2023.
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Oksana Lyniv was born in 1978 in Brody, Ukraine, and grew up in a family of musicians. She was a flutist and had her first opportunity to conduct an orchestra at 16. By 2004, Oksana was participating in and winning prizes in international competitions. In 2021, Maestra Lyniv became the first woman to conduct at the famed Bayreuth Festival, opening the festival with Richard Wagner's opera “Der Fliegende Holländer.” In October 2021, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna announced the appointment of Lyniv as its new music director, making Lyniv the first female conductor to be named music director of an Italian opera house. As one of the most sought-after conductors in the world, Maestra Lyniv would be in Korea two weeks before our planned trip. She would be in Japan two weeks after our trip. It would be an honor to finally see Maestra Lyniv conduct in person after seeing countless videos of her performing with a blue-and-yellow sash to draw attention to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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Thanks to tour member Ulana Mazurkevich, we contacted Maestra Lyniv, and she agreed to meet us 30 minutes before the opera started. When our group entered the lobby, she was waiting for us with a welcoming smile. A humble person, she did not expect to be greeted by such a large group of Ukrainian-American supporters! She was surprised and overwhelmed by our attention. Our group, dressed in Ukrainian embroideries, gifted her a large bouquet of sunflowers, the flowers of Ukraine. Oksana was joined by Andrii Murza, her husband and manager, who offered to take group pictures. She took the time to pose with our group and with each traveler who had come from various parts of the U.S. to see her conduct.
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From the minute she appeared in front of the orchestra, she commanded more than 120 people, soloists, choirs, and musicians for three hours. Each movement of her hand was intentional. Her baton moved effortlessly through the air, and the sounds of Rossini's lighthearted, fast-paced music enveloped us. We embraced the modern staging to the extent that we could understand it.
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As applause broke out at the end and Maestra Lyniv took center stage to join all the performers, our sunflowers were delivered to her again!! Attached to the flowers was a card signed by all tour members.
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We are proud of Oksana Lyniv for all she has achieved. We are grateful that such a champion of Ukraine graces the musical stages of the world.
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Slava Ukraini! Glory to Ukraine!
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Marijka Helbig (Scope Travel) Weekly Article 11/2023
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