Mephistopheles' aria. Famous opera singer killed by sniper in eastern Ukraine

Yesterday, the Ukrainian media reported a sad event. Not far from the village of Luganskoye, early in the morning, at six in the morning, singer Vasily Slipak was killed by a sniper bullet. There was also a story about the fate of this man, his beliefs, that he was famous all over the world. Many times on television, his interview was repeated, in which the artist told about himself and called on all healthy men under the age of 50 to visit the ATO zone to make sure that the war will end soon, obviously victorious. This story would be quite "pulling" for a lofty patriotic example, but ... The body of the singer has not yet sat down to give the earth, as it turned out some extremely unpleasant circumstances for the authorities.

Life path

You can treat the political views of Vasyl Slipak as you like, but even the most convinced opponents of Ukrainian nationalism cannot deny him honesty and sincerity. The singer certainly loved his country, albeit in his own way. For the triumph of the national idea, he left the stage of opera and not just anywhere, but in Paris. There he performed arias, folk songs, he had admirers, admirers, as well as royalties for performances, according to Ukrainian concepts, simply astronomical. And not for the sake of earning money, he returned to his homeland, but his heart called. Vasily would not send home the refrigerators and televisions taken from the broken houses of the residents of the Donetsk region, he did not need it. On the contrary, he collected money for the ATO fighters and spent his own funds, acquiring cars and all sorts of other things needed in the war. The singer lived abroad for almost two decades, and upon learning that an insidious enemy had attacked Ukraine, he did not stand aside, but first became a volunteer, and then a warrior. Death cut short this beautiful destiny. This is roughly how they talk about Vasily Slipak on TV, unobtrusively hinting to all those liable for military service about where they belong.

Slipak on military affairs

It is very interesting to listen to the television interview given by Vasily Slipak shortly before his death. If an unknown DNR sniper had known whose "lower torso region" he took into the optics intersection, then, it can be assumed with a high degree of probability, he would have chosen a different target. The singer did not stay at the front for long, a couple of weeks in total, and during this time he hardly managed to inflict at least some damage on the enemy, especially since he never served in the army and did not know military affairs at all. Moreover, Vasily did not even think that it was necessary. He told the journalist who asked him questions that the main thing in a war is not combat skills, but patriotism in the heart, and everything else is a simple matter. It was evident that he was not dissembling, but said what he was thinking. In a strange way, these thoughts echo the general principles of the Ukrainian army, which, of course, is increasingly switching to a contract system, but this does not make it more professionals. Officers are "retrained" for a month, and any of them, from procurers to gunners. Where the shells fired by such "specialists" are flying is known to many residents of Donbass from those who survived, of course.

Official losses

According to the press service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, less than three thousand servicemen were killed during the military conflict in the east of Ukraine. Well, maybe a little more, if you take into account the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine, national guardsmen and border guards. Nevertheless, a year ago, when asked about the real number of those killed, officers who had been to the war answered without a shadow of a doubt: "at least dozens", meaning, of course, thousands. Mournful processions passed through the streets of different settlements, reports of large-scale "boilers" replaced one another, whole military groupings fell into the encirclement, losing a significant part of the personnel during evacuation. And today people continue to die, soldiers and officers, volunteers and mobilized people, including forcibly. All these facts do not confirm the official figures. The data are clearly underestimated, and implausible, which gives rise to the darkest assumptions, perhaps even overestimated.

What does the deceased singer have to do with it? A little patience.

Where did volunteer Slipak serve?

Vasily Slipak fought not in some part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but in a completely different armed formation. In the aforementioned interview, with artistic slyness, he hinted that in fact “they are not there,” and expressed fears of the possibility of returning to France again, since such actions are not welcomed in the European Union. In these bold speeches, the singer actually acknowledged his status as a mercenary. He fought in the DUK (Ukrainian Volunteer Corps) of the "Right Sector", which is banned in Russia, by the way, or rather in his seventh battalion. This unit enjoys a particularly bad reputation among the LPR militias, a struggle is waged with it for complete destruction, and, as a rule, they are not taken prisoners in battles with them.

DUK and its role in the war

Again, unlike ordinary mobilized people and even those who voluntarily came to the Ukrainian military registration and enlistment offices to sign a service contract, sometimes forcedly, for lack of other means of livelihood (this is not an uncommon phenomenon nowadays), "pravoseki" are convinced people. They do not fight for money, although they receive some kind of content, of course, but for an idea. They are indispensable in this very ATO, their command, as they say, "plugs the holes", they are sent to intelligence, some kind of raids and other dangerous enterprises, where ordinary AFU officers cannot be lured with a roll. Fighters of the "Right Sector" are few, but they are always at the forefront of events, marked on tactical topographic maps. And if the death and even injury of every soldier is now an event that is reported on the Internet and on television, then members of volunteer formations are dying unknown. As Slipak said, "they simply are not there." Of course, he chatted a lot too much and gave away an important state secret in passing, but what to take from him is an artist. All the more so now.

Slipak loads the magazine and sings, sings ...

This video is very popular and is watched by many. The opera singer sits at an impromptu table, in front of him a handful of cartridges, he rhythmically snaps them into the shop of a Kalashnikov assault rifle and sings a Ukrainian folk song quietly but beautifully to the beat. He, in fact, has a very pleasant voice, rich in nuances, and not just falling under some generally accepted operatic standards, but a very rare counter-tenor. With his small concerts, Vasily sometimes entertained his colleagues, they especially liked the patriotic repertoire. So this video recorded a similar moment, almost everyday, but not without a touch of artistry. The patriots like this scene, they think that here, they say, Slipak is sitting, humming, the store clogs, and then he will take a machine gun and "separate everyone". It turned out the other way around, but the enemies of the new Ukraine have no reason to gloat. By his death, the artist of the Opera Bastille in Paris revealed a secret mechanism that allows underestimating the real losses of the Ukrainian side, and something else.

The secret to low losses

The Ukrainian media, of course, somewhat exaggerated about Slipak's worldwide fame, the singer performed parts most often in secondary theaters, signed two or three contracts annually, and he was not invited to La Scala, but he had a certain fame, as did a very beautiful voice. After he died, someone came up with the idea to compare this fact with the daily report, in which the command lists the wounded and killed per day. Vasily Slipak was not in it. He was nowhere to be found. "Right Sector" does not count the dead. Sometimes, when the volunteers manage to get the corpse, the fallen hero is brought to his hometown and a magnificent funeral is arranged, as a rule, at their own expense. Slipak will be interred in Lviv, this has already been reported, a celebrity after all. So rarely is anyone lucky ...

Who's Shooting?

Another moment that may lead to a real discovery, and this is again to blame for the death of the singer Vasily Slipak. Since the "Right Sector" is nowhere to be found, no one monitors its observance of the Minsk Agreements either. But after all, someone is shooting near Peski, Avdeevka and on the Svetlodar arc? It can be assumed that they are heroes and cover themselves with unfading glory, those "who are not there."

It remains only to express condolences to the parents and brother of Myth (a pseudonym in honor of the beloved opera character of Vasil Slipak, Mephistopheles). He sang beautifully. Rest in peace to him ...

VASILY SLIPAK. LIFE ON A HIGH NOTE

This opera singer considered the part of Mephistopheles in the opera Faust by Charles Gounod to be his most beloved, therefore he got a consonant nickname - Myth. But his life, though short, was as heroic as the mythological characters. He presented the audience with the rarest and exclusive art of singing. He was considered a real vocal miracle, and many teachers simply dreamed of working with Vasily in their class.

The dream of educators

An extremely gifted opera singer, he possessed a subtle and limitless vocal vibrato that drove the audience crazy. It was impossible to understand how such a powerful voice fits into such a slender and young performer. Eminent teachers did not even want to classify his voice, calling it unique. In his forties, he was an opera singer known throughout Europe, performed leading roles in many productions, had tremendous prospects, but when the war began in his homeland, he could not stay away ...

Lviv talent

Was born in Lviv 1974. His parents instilled in him respect and love for his native land, for him the words "honor" and "dignity" were not empty. He grew up as a responsible, fair, purposeful and not at all a hooligan youth. In the family, no one was professionally involved in music, but my grandfather had a vocals of amazing purity and power. Therefore, Vasily had a talent to inherit from. His older brother Orest influenced his creative development. It was he who took nine-year-old Vasily to the famous Lviv academic choir "Dudaryk". The founder and leader of the collective, Nikolai Katsal, became an iconic figure in the work of the aspiring singer. The repertoire works of the chapel have shaped the taste and worldview Vasily Slipak... He performed works by Ukrainian composers of the golden era of the a capella choral concert genre. Also as part of "Dudarik" Vasily took part in recordings of records and joint concerts with eminent Ukrainian performers. The guys even visited the famous New York “Carnegie Hall” with performances.

Not all and not all at once

Surprisingly, having a rather rare voice (countertenor), Vasily did not manage to enter the Lviv Music Institute from the first time (now it is the Lviv National Music Academy). Slipak did not lose faith in himself, he performed a lot, began touring, met many musicians, composers and conductors. In 1992, a stubborn young man proved his right to be among the students of the institute and entered the course of Professor Maria Baiko. Under her leadership, Vasily expanded his repertoire with works by Ukrainian and European composers. He always took part in student concerts, showed his gorgeous voice, thanks to which the teachers predicted a dizzying career for him.

Vasily Slipak's French chance

Soon creative destiny Vasily Slipak made a sharp turn. This time again, it was not without the help of the elder brother Orestes. In 1994, he went to France for a cardiology congress. In Paris, he was lucky enough to meet the staff of the editorial office of "Ukrainian Word". The weekly was headed by Doctor of Medicine, Professor Yaroslav Musyanovich. He introduced Orestes to the composer Marian Kuzan and insistently recommended that he leave a cassette with the younger brother. A month later Vasily Slipak invited to one of the largest music festivals in the city of Clermont-Ferrand.

In addition to his program, the singer has also prepared cantatas by Handel, St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion. The young man sang French, German songs and Italian arias in the original language and was awarded the Grand Prix of the competition and the Grand Prix of Audience Choice. In addition, he was the only contestant who performed compositions in his native language. His debut in France was a real sensation. Critics wrote rave reviews in newspapers about the Ukrainian operatic talent, his vocal abilities charmed the audience, and famous teachers of the Paris Academy organized an audition for him. Everyone unanimously recognized the originality of Vasily's voice, which put an end to the dispute about whether to sing at the same time as a baritone and a countertenor. This is how one competition became a milestone in Slipak's creative life.

Test by contests

After that, he had the opportunity to present his program to the Parisian public. In 1994, the young singer gave a recital at the French Vichy Opera. Works of Ukrainian folk music sounded on the stage that evening.

At the international music festival "Kiev Music Fest" in the same year, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, he performed the cantata "Pierrot deadloop" by Alexander Kozarenko. The audience was delighted and summoned Vasily for an encore. This happened for the first time at a contemporary chamber music concert. A few months later, within the framework of the International Festival of Contemporary Art in Odessa, Slipak performed this chamber cantata again. And again success, the work was sounded here twice.

Vasily's talent and unique voice were also appreciated by the guests of the International Festival of Musical Art "Virtuosos", which took place in Lviv in 1995. Together with his native chapel "Dudarik" and soprano Bogdana Khidchenko performed two parts at once in the famous cantata of the German composer Karl Orff "Carmina Burana".

Leading parties

He easily performed both folk music and the most complex operatic parts. received leading roles in "The Wedding of Figaro" and "Don Juan", "Boris Godunov" by Modest Mussorgsky, "Prince Igor" by Alexander Borodin and. But more than others he liked the image of Mephistopheles from the opera "Faust".

As part of a concert tour across Europe in 2008, he performed chamber works in cathedrals and ancient palaces, opera and drama theaters, major concert halls and cultural centers. He has collaborated with renowned orchestras and conductors.

No matter what stage he went on, he fascinated the audience everywhere with his marvelous vocal culture and original voice. It seemed that from the first seconds he was concentrating the attention of the public on himself, amazing it, causing a wide range of emotions. Of course, his appearance and unchanging gallantry helped him to become in this. Naturalness, artistry and expressiveness were inherent in him. Despite the fact that he sounded harmoniously in the choir, the soloist still prevailed in him. He skillfully mastered the special technique of vocal performance "mezza voce" (quiet, incomplete sound), which required high professionalism and technical skill.

Personal example

For almost twenty years he lived in France, where he performed at the Paris National Opera. Rare vocal skills allowed the singer to make a successful solo career in Europe. He had everything to become real an opera star: a unique timbre of voice, attractiveness and aristocracy in manners. He has performed on the best stages in France, Italy, Poland and the USA. But when hostilities began in his homeland, he firmly decided that an opera career could wait. Relatives know that he could not and did not want to live by half, to abstract from what was happening was unthinkable for him. And all the others still cannot understand - that the brilliant opera performer forgot in the trenches of Donbass. This was his personal example of self-sacrifice in the name of the country, which he loved infinitely, and his people.

Frontline everyday life of Vasily Slipak

During the Revolution of Dignity, he could not come to Ukraine - in France he signed a contract with an opera house. But he did everything in his power there too - he organized actions in support of his country, gave charity concerts to raise funds, volunteered, helped the fighters, and then he himself joined one of the volunteer battalions. Vasily went to Donbass, to know about the war not from newspapers and the Internet. He took the call sign "Myth", and many soldiers did not even know that an opera star was fighting next to them, because Slipak did not like to talk about himself at all. On a page on a social network, he asked to help the wounded and the families of the victims, only for this he turned to people. Vasily did not flaunt everything that he did for the sake of the soldiers.

Returning from Donbass, he continued charity concerts, together with the Ukrainian diaspora in France, he helped children whose parents were taken away by the war. And in the summer of 2016, he again went to the east of the country.

"Myth" and reality

When the journalists found out that there was an opera singer at the front, they immediately began to shoot all sorts of stories about him. did not refuse interviews, but always said that he did not give them for his own PR. Thus, he wanted to convey his position to people, to support those who have lost their faith, to attract help for the fighters.

2016 sniper bullet ended life Vasily Slipak... The singer's voice was silent forever, but it will sound in the memory of those who appreciate his talent.

FACTS

In 2011, the singer decided to try his hand at the international opera competition Armel, the jury of which was to select several candidates for leading roles in five productions at the best theaters in New York, Krakow, Szeged, Pilsen and Bol. After several rounds of competition received the right to participate in the finals of the prestigious opera "competition". At the winners' concert, he sang a Toreador aria from the opera and won the prize for Best Male Performance.

At the time when u Vasily Slipak a unique countertenor had just begun to appear; he and Yuri Kolasa imitated and performed the famous composition “Barcelona” at one of the rehearsals of the Dudarik chapel. The rest of the chapel singers liked this so much that at every opportunity they asked the guys to sing again.

Updated: April 7, 2019 by the author: Elena

The one who died in the ATO zone in Donbass turned out to be the brother of the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan. The head of the ministry himself wrote about this on his Facebook page, without specifying, however. relation degree.

Omelyan shared his memories of the killed soldier and published his photographs.

"He was energetic, full of optimism. Whatever it was, no matter how difficult it was - he smiled, joked, looked at the sky. He walked forward. Two meters tall, straight spine and truth from the mouth. He lived by what he did. Not I just sang, but I was the hero of the stage. I fought that way. Without talking about the war itself. He loved friends and girlfriends, firmly cut off the enemies, lived in Ukraine ", - wrote Omelyan.

“Once, in childhood, I pinched his finger with the door. The nail came off, and the new one grew badly.“ Sign, brother always thinks about you, ”he laughed at the meeting and poked that finger.

He is infinitely sociable, ready to give up his last and just as carefree to come to you for a day, and stay or invite for several months, "Omelyan said.

He also wrote that at first Slipak did not admit that he was fighting in the ATO zone and for a long time refused to help.

"The stage was his vocation. It was his Hollywood. He went to it since childhood." Dudarik ", French Grand Prix, Paris Opera–an achievement not only personal, but also, as it seemed to us, of the whole Ukraine and our family, "the minister also wrote.

Recall that opera singer Vasily who fought in the Donbass in the ranks of the DUK Right Sector

Vasily Yaroslavovich Slipakwas born on December 20, 1974 in Lviv. Have Krajina opera singer, soloist of the Paris National Opera. He has lived in France for over 19 years and made a brilliant career.

But when the war began in the East, he took the call sign "Myth" and went to defend Donbass. When he returned to France, he volunteered, collected help for the Ukrainian army.

On June 29, 2016, he died exactly where fierce fighting took place yesterday. The militants suffered terrible losses. It seems as if the Ato people avenged their deceased comrade, the great son of Ukraine.

"They fought off the attack of the separatists, with the participation of art, military equipment. Vasily died from a sniper's bullet, with a machine gun in his hands," Vasily's commander Alexander with the call sign "Friend Podolyanin" told the journalist how he died.

According to the stories of his comrades, Vasily was a machine gunner.

“We fought with him on the front line at the end of spring and in the summer of 2015 near Sands,” says Grigory Pivovarov, a brother of Vasily from the 7th battalion of the DUK. but he also sent a lot of help to the guys. It's nothing that Vasya was not a professional soldier, but an artist - learning to fight when you love your country is not difficult, the main thing is desire and faith. By the way, he turned out to be a good warrior. And he sang to us sometimes. "

Military medic Yana Zinkevich reports that Slipak was fatally wounded in the lower torso. Later, official information appeared: on June 18, Vasily went to Donbass to deliver the collected aid to the volunteer defenders, and planned to stay there for six months. But on June 29, performing a combat mission as a machine gunner in the 1st assault company of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps "Right Sector" (DUK PS), he died in battle at about 6:00 from an enemy 12.7 mm bullet fired by a sniper from a large-caliber rifle.

Vasily Slipak saved his comrades at the cost of his own life. Ukrainian defenders repulsed the attack of Russian armed formations on the village. Luganskoe (Bakhmutsky district, Donetsk region) from the side of the city of Debaltseve and launched a counteroffensive, pushing back the enemy from two fortified positions on heights near the village. Logvinovo.

It fell to his parents and elder brother Orest to bury Vasily. It was Orest who once took little Vasya "to the music" - the child began to sing almost at the same time as he spoke. At the age of six, Vasily climbed onto the table at a village wedding and sang "Tell me, do you love or not?"

In 1994, at an international competition in France, a 20-year-old student of the Lviv Conservatory received the Grand Prix, and in 1996 he signed a contract with Opera Bastille. He sang the part of the four devils from Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" so that the audience called him Mephistopheles.

And here is the aria "Toreador", for the performance of which Vasily received the prize "Best Male Performance" at the International Festival of Opera Singers in Armel.

Vasily lived in France, made an excellent career, but this did not alienate him from his homeland. When Maidan began, he, unable to travel to Ukraine (he had a contract with the opera), organized actions in support of Ukraine in France.

Parisian Ukrainians gathered at the San Michel fountain. This is where Simon Petliura was once killed.

Vasily was proud of his first volunteer success - a "Ford" bought for "Right Sector" with funds from a Paris demonstration.

He was proud, but believed that this was not enough. After living for 19 years in France, he left the stellar European life and came to defend his homeland.

This is how Vasily looked while working at the opera in Paris. An imposing man with aristocratic pallor and well-groomed hair.

And so he became in Donbass, and only in memory of the scene chose the call sign "Mephistopheles". Although for convenience it was reduced to "Myth" ... Because "Mephistopheles" is too long to shout into the radio.

He fought as a member of the Right Sector DUK.

"It all started with volunteering," DUK PS "were our first godchildren, we call them that. We helped them with our entire volunteer organization" Fraternité Ukrainienne / Ukrainian Brotherhood. " , I knew these people and it so happened that I was here, but it could have been some other battalion. This is how volunteering naturally developed into active participation, "Myth told reporters.

Since last summer, Vasily has changed several units, said the main headquarters of the DUK PS. His last unit was the DUK assault company.

The last messages on Vasily Slipak's Facebook page are about business. He collected money for brothers-in-arms, for he was not only a fighter, but also a volunteer. Was looking for 50 black berets. Who knows what for. Friends joked, they say, there are fur. Or pink.

On the morning of June 29, 2016, the jokes gave way to dozens of questions. "Alive?", "Vasily, are you alive?", "What have you done, brother ..."

Vasily was buried in his homeland, in Lvov.

And a year later, "MYTH" was released - a new film by the authors of the tape