SVI Library Book of the Month: Solomea by Andy J. Semotiuk

We now carry the Ukrainian translated version of the book

SVI Library Book of the Month is Solomea: Star of Opera’s Golden Age by Toronto’s own Andy J. Semotiuk and grand-nephew of Solomea.

Solomea Krushelnytska was hailed as the world's leading dramatic soprano during the Golden Age of opera at the turn of the 20th century. Born in 1872 into a family with eight children in a small village in Western Ukraine, she studied opera and battled her way to superstardom while performing with opera legends like composer Giacomo Puccini, director Arturo Toscanini, and tenor Enrico Caruso.

From author Andy Semotiuk": "Solomea's journey as a singer, her unwavering dedication to her craft, and the heights she reached in her career will inspire and fascinate readers who appreciate exceptional musical abilities. ..... Those with an interest in history, particularly the cultural and artistic aspects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, will find Solomea's story compelling. It provides a window into the opera scene of that era and sheds light on how historical events impacted the lives of artists."

Click here to read more about the book

As a professor of theater, a voice coach who has worked with major theaters and drama schools in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands, and someone who has worked with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the English Opera Group, I found Mr. Semotiuk's biography of Solomea Krushelnytska as an opera star insightful, inspiring, and fascinating. It is wonderful that he has taken the effort to remind the opera world of one of its great female talents who reigned in the golden age of opera along with other greats like Enrico Caruso, Arturo Toscanini, and Giacomo Puccini. We are guided through her childhood, her adolescent struggles, her journey to her international career, her having to deal with the destructive impact of the Italian Fascists, and then the devastating impact of the German/Russian war. This is a deep and captivating story. – David Smukler