The Ukrainian song has no words.
When Oksana Stepanyuk, an award-winning soprano with The Japan Opera Foundation, performs “Melody,” composed by Myroslav Skoryk, her voice turns into a wail of mourning, a pensive but piercing prayer for her homeland.
“It’s like I’m crying through the melody for people who are already in heaven,” she said.
Stepanyuk, who has been singing in Japan for two decades, is dedicating her latest series of concerts to peace.
Admission was free. But the packed crowd, who gave a standing ovation, was stuffing bills into the blue and yellow boxes at the door, collecting donations for water, food and medicine for Ukraine.
“Music has no borders. I don’t have to say any words. Music will save this world,” Stepanyuk said backstage at Kokubunji Izumi Hall in Tokyo recently.
Stepanyuk, a graduate of the Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine and officially named “Merited Artist of Ukraine,” is probably the most famous Ukrainian in Japan.
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