It was hard to imagine an opera with a subject that could be more traumatic—or more cathartic—for the audience gathered there. The event took place in the grand, gilded halls of the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv, featuring the premiere of excerpts from Mothers of Kherson, an opera about the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian occupiers. It’s a raw, ongoing story of real-life loss and pain.
The opera was originally meant to focus on the Maidan protests of 2013-14. But the American librettist George Brant, who wrote the hit play Grounded, changed direction in 2023 when stories of abducted children began making headlines.
“Probably in the USA or Great Britain, nobody knows about Maidan, but everyone cares about children, so this topic connects with more people,” said Maxim Kolomiiets, the opera’s Ukrainian composer, speaking from his base in Leipzig.
The performance last Thursday evening in Kyiv was more than just a show—it was an act of cultural diplomacy. Dignitaries turned out in force: in the stalls were First Lady Olena Zelenska, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, and Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna.
But without a doubt, the most important members of the audience were families from formerly occupied areas who had been affected by the abductions. There were mothers with teenagers they had managed to bring back from Crimea or elsewhere, and families still fighting to get their children home.
Judging by the tears, the standing ovation, and the flowers thrown onto the stage, the highly emotional performance—ending with a chorus promising love, tenderness, and protection, sung at full force by the cast and two large choirs—had proven cathartic.
The work deals with the deportation of Ukrainian children by Russian occupiers. Many of the lost children of Ukraine were sent to summer camps in Russian-occupied Crimea after caregivers living under occupation were told the young people would be safer away from the fighting. Many families found themselves blocked by Russian authorities from bringing their children back.
After large parts of Ukraine were liberated in the fall of 2022, parents and deported children often ended up on opposite sides of the front line. Family members, helped by NGOs like Save Ukraine, have risked danger to travel huge distances through Poland, Belarus, and Russia to reach their loved ones. More direct routes were blocked by the combat zone.
According to Bring Kids Back, an initiative launched in 2023 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, more than 20,000 children are estimated to have been deported or forcibly transferred to Russia. This may involve changing their names, giving them Russian citizenship, placing them in Russian families for adoption, or exposing them to Russian militarized education.
Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s children’s commissioner and a character in the opera—seen giving a press conference in the work—is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for her role in these events, as is Vladimir Putin.
The opera’s story begins as the people of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson adjust to the shock of occupation. One elderly woman, Olena, sings an aria where she fantasizes about dropping sunflower seeds into the pockets and backpack of a Russian soldier, so that when he is killed on Ukrainian soil, sunflowers will grow from his body.
That scene is based on a real moment captured on film in southern Ukraine early in the full-scale invasion, when an elderly woman challenged an occupier to leave and told him to fill his pockets with sunflower seeds.
Two mothers, Kateryna and Olha, agree to let their daughters go to a summer camp in Crimea. Months later, th…They manage to travel to the peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, to try to bring their girls back.
By compressing the story into something relatively simple but still accurate, the material takes on an almost mythical, archetypal quality.
To write the libretto, Brant and producer Sasha Andrusyk worked closely with Save Ukraine. The organization’s founder, Mykola Kuleba, was in the audience.
The opera was commissioned by Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as a show of solidarity and support for Ukraine. Keri-Lynn Wilson, who has Ukrainian heritage and speaks Ukrainian, conducted the excerpts. She founded the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra shortly after the full-scale invasion began.
The performance received a standing ovation.
The opera will be fully staged in Warsaw this autumn, with a New York premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in spring 2028.
For the Kyiv performance, the opera was translated into Ukrainian by Kyiv-based writer Myroslav Laiuk, filled with harmonious internal rhymes. For the Warsaw and New York shows, it will be sung in the original English.
Gelb said, “We want this opera to have the broadest popular international appeal. We wanted to perform it in many different countries, and we felt English was more accessible.”
Andrusyk interviewed abducted children and their parents—but only those who had received extensive psychological care after their traumatic experiences. She said the libretto was thoroughly researched.
Kolomiiets said it was checked for accuracy and revised many times.
Andrusyk added that the characters were fictional “but only in the sense that they combine different stories, not in the sense that anything is made up.”
Speaking before Thursday’s performance, she said she was a bit nervous about how the work would affect a Ukrainian audience. The difficult subject matter was about to meet the deeply emotional art form of opera and be heard by people directly affected by the story.
For many, the trauma remains unresolved. Many abducted children haven’t been found, some have been denied permission to leave by Russian authorities, and some don’t want to come home.
Andrusyk mentioned a scene where the group of mothers “sing about their grief, their guilt, and how they feel looked down on by fellow citizens… I was listening as if I were from Kherson, and for a moment I hesitated.”
She said, “It’s a difficult piece to perform for people in Ukraine, but I also think this is where art happens—where it really speaks to you, and you recognize your own experience.”
Wilson referred to a scene where abducted children, played by a Ukrainian children’s choir, sing their thanks to “Mama Maria,” Lvova-Belova. “I mean, it’s so horrible,” she said. “But they’re very professional. It’s a role, and you sing it.”
The musical language of the work is accessible and melodic, drawing on southern Ukrainian folk songs. Kolomiiets said, “I had to keep in mind that I was writing the opera for the Metropolitan Opera, so it had to be contemporary. But I also had to remember that we’re telling a story about women from Kherson. My guiding light was that the women from Kherson must hear their voices in this opera.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about the Kyiv opera premiere addressing the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What is this new opera about
It tells the true story of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken from their families and deported to Russia during the war The opera focuses on the trauma of the children and the desperate search by their parents
2 Why did the premiere in Kyiv make people cry
The subject is deeply emotional and personal for many Ukrainians The music combined with the reallife horror of children being taken created a powerful moment of collective grief and release for the audience
3 Who wrote and performed the opera
The opera was created by Ukrainian artists including a composer and librettist who worked with testimonies from affected families It was performed by the Kyiv Opera company
4 Is this a true story
Yes It is based on documented reports and witness accounts Ukraine has accused Russia of forcibly deporting thousands of children since the fullscale invasion began in 2022
5 Why is this topic important to talk about in an opera
Art can help process trauma that is hard to put into words The opera raises global awareness about a war crime and gives a voice to children who were silenced
AdvancedLevel Questions
6 What specific musical techniques were used to convey the childrens trauma
Reports indicate the composer used dissonant harmonies fragmented melodies and a childrens choir that sang in a distorted haunting way to represent fear and disorientation The music shifts between silence and overwhelming sound to mimic the shock of abduction
7 How did the production handle the reallife testimonies of the children
The libretto was built directly from interviews with survivors and parents Some parts of the opera feature verbatim quotes while others use symbolic staging to represent the missing
8 What is the significance of the premiere being in Kyiv rather than abroad
Holding it in Kyiv is a statement of resilience It allows the families directly affected to see their stories honored and it forces the international community to witness the pain in the place where it happened not just in a distant theater
9 Has there been any reaction from Russia or international bodies to the opera
Russia has officially denied the forced deportations However the International Criminal Court
