The Odessa Opera Theater was built in 1887 on the site of the burnt down city theater. It was created by Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Herman Helmer. It was the first building equipped with steam heating and electricity in Odessa. All the bohemians of the city gathered here.
There was not a single famous singer or singer in Western Europe who would not sing at the Odessa Opera House. Enrico Caruso, Fyodor Shalyapin, Leonid Sobinov, Salome Krushelnitskaya, Antonina Nezhdanova sang on the theater stage. Anna Pavlova, Isadora Duncan, Ekaterina Geltser danced. Sergey Rachmaninov and Alexander Scriabin gave concerts. Dramatic actresses Sarah Bernard and Eleonora Duse, Italian tragedian Ernesto Rossi, played here. The orchestra was conducted by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Anton Rubinstein and Eduard Napravnik, Anton Arensky, Alexander Glazunov and many others.
The magnificent theater is miraculously healed over the years. Several times his fate was in the balance. So in 1944 the Nazis planned to burn it during the retreat, but did not have time.
In 2007 it was reconstructed and now it is the pearl of Odessa architecture of the 19th century. I recommend to everyone not only go to the opera or ballet in this building, but also to visit a tour in his backstage, which are regularly held, including in English.
