It’s a busy month for Andrii Kymach in Toronto this May. The Ukrainian bass-baritone makes his Canadian Opera Company debut singing the title role in its upcoming production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. He’ll also perform the role of Alfio from Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, which the COC will perform in concert on May 23.
The roles could hardly be more disparate when it comes to the nature of the character, from the worldly regrets of Onegin to Alfio’s white hot jealous rage.
We spoke to Kymach about his upcoming roles.
Andrii Kymach sings Bizet’s Votre Toast aka the Toreador song from Carmen, with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conductor Ariane Matiakh on August 1, 2019 at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition:
Bass-Baritone Andrii Kymach
Kymach graduated from the Young Artist Program of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow in 2018, and went on to take home First Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019.
Just this season, he’s performed at The Royal Opera House in London, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Previous roles in the 2024-2025 seasons include Escamillo at Teatr Wielki / Opera Narodowa.
Prior seasons have seen him sing the role of Sir Riccardo Forth (Les Puritains) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and Enrico Ashton (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Auditorio de Tenerife. He has also perforemd at the Opéra de Nice, the Théâtre d’Antibes and the Welsh National Opera, and at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
The Interview
Growing up, his family wasn’t especially interested in music, he says. Music studies came a bit later in life.
“It was quite late,” he says. “I started my musical education at 22.”
Kymach became interested in opera after seeing a performance, but didn’t see himself in the field at first. “I was just a fan of opera,” he says. Even without plans to become a professional singer, he gained some experience singing in choirs. Opera eventually became his focus, though, and he’s never looked back.
Andrii has a deep understanding of Eugene Onegin as a character. “We must start with Pushkin,” he says.
Alexander Pushkin wrote his novel Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse in 1825, and it was first published in serialized form.
The title character, a young, wealthy man in Saint Petersburg, came to be a model for what was dubbed the “superfluous man”. He’s disillusioned and leads a life of superficial social events, shunning serious feelings until it’s too late. He rejects Tatyana at first, and then, years later, when he’s realized the error of his ways, she’s already moved on with her life.
Onegin is someone who has essentially faked his way through life to this point. As Kymach notes, Onegin isn’t well educated, but he likes to give that impression. He’s learned a few phrases that revolve around various topics in order to be able to appear knowledgeable. Even when he tries to learn more deeply, he can’t seem to put in the work.
“My first education was philosophy,” Andrii explains of his approach to understanding character. “He creates a fake life, and a fake image.”
At the bottom of it, Onegin doesn’t fully understand himself.
“He creates a caricature,” Kymach explains.
He’s always well dressed, and looks the part of a worldly man… until you begin to pick apart the facade.
“That’s why he’s not really a grown person.”
As someone obsessed with outside image over inner qualities, the character of Onegin certainly resonates in the modern era of internet influencers. “You can create a perfect image on Instagram,” Kymach notes.
Onegin’s initial rejection of Tatyana comes simply because of gossip, her lower social status, and the fact that he doesn’t understand his own emotions. He clings to status because it’s the one thing he does understand.
Years after their first meeting, and after the tragedy of killing his friend Lensky in an ill-advised duel, Oregon meets Tatyana again — as the wife of Prince Gremin. “Only when he saw Gremin, who didn’t care about what people thought,” Andrii says — that’s when he appreciates Tatyana. Onegin approaches her, but she’s made choices in life. “But, the moment was past,” he explains.
There’s a change in his character, but it’s sudden. “More looking like a human,” he says. It’s sometimes interpreted as a genuine character change, but Kymach is not convinced.
“For me, he’s just changed roles,” he says. “He’s still Onegin.”
Real love, as he points out, is what you give to another — not something you get. “What we see in the last scene with Tatyana,” Kymach says, “you were born to be with me, [Onegin pleads].” But, as he points out, even after Tatyana admits her lingering feelings for him, he still can’t squeak out the words ‘I love you’ until she’s already gone.
“He has no friends,” Kymach points out. Onegin finishes with a life that’s even emptier than before, devoid of love and friendship.
Alfio in Cavalliera rusticana is a kind of complete about face.
“He’s completely different,” Andrii says. “He’s a live person.”
It’s an example of verismo, the realism that became a popular element of Italian operas of the 19th century. In the story, a villager by the name of Turiddu has returned from military service, only to find his fiancée Lola has married someone else — Alfio the Carter. Lola takes up with her former paramouron the side, Alfio becomes enraged, and a duel of revenge ensues.
“Alfio, he just wants revenge,” he says of the character’s straightforward emotions.
“It’s probably easier to act,” he acknowledges. Still, portraying on stage rage convincingly can be exhausting. “You must be really angry,” he says. “The audience must believe.”
Opera: Performances
Arthur Richard Andrew Scace QC CM was a Toronto lawyer and jurist, the former chairman of the board of directors of the Band of Nova Scotia, a member of the Order of Canada, and former director of the Canadian Opera Company. To see Cavalleria rusticana return to the COC stage was one of his fondest wishes. Sadly, he passed away in 2020 during the pandemic, and the May 23 performance takes place in his honour.
Joining Kymach on stage for Cavalleria rusticana is Russell Thomas, Anna Pirozzi (a company debut), Emily Treigle, and Ensemble Studio artist Queen Hezumuryango.
- The May 23 performance of Cavalleria rusticana is sold out, but last minute rush tickets may be available; info [HERE].
Also in the cast of Onegin: Lauren Fagan, Tatyana; Evan LeRoy Johnson, Lensky; Megan Marino, Olga; Emily Treigle, Filipyevna; Dimitry Ivashchenko, Gremin; Krisztina Szabó, Madame Larina; Michael Colvin, Monsieur Triquet; Duncan Stenhouse, Zaretsky; Korin Thomas-Smith, Captain. Speranza Scappucci conducts the COC Orchestra.
- Find tickets and more details about Eugene Onegin, on stage from May 2 to 24, 2025, [HERE].
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