Kirill Karabits: unearthing Theodore Akimenko's La Vierge des Glaciers

The Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits is a passionate advocate of the music of his compatriot, the composer Theodore Akimenko (1876–1945), the 150th anniversary of whose birth falls in 2026. He is the driving force behind the revival of Akimenko's opera La Vierge des Glaciers, unperformed for more than a century, which will receive its world premiere at the Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie over the festive season, under the title Le Baiser de la fée, on 22, 23 and 27 December. Crescendo Magazine is delighted to talk to him on this occasion.

A pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky's first teacher, a resident of Paris: how could Akimenko vanish so completely from music history? Was it exile, the Soviet period, his aesthetic, or his personality?

I think Akimenko disappeared for a combination of reasons. He lived between several countries and several musical cultures, so after his emigration he no longer belonged clearly to any single national tradition or institution that would preserve his legacy.

Then there was a very practical problem. He died in Paris in 1945 without direct heirs, and his archive eventually entered the Bibliothèque nationale de France. For many years, however, access to parts of the music was effectively blocked, because reproductions required permission from a rights holder who did not exist. It was an absurd situation. In 2022, while preparing the Cello Concerto for its world premiere with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, I managed to obtain the necessary permission and help unblock access to the material.

So his disappearance was not only aesthetic or historical; it was also archival. And now, as of 2026, his music is in the public domain, which finally changes the situation completely.

You describe him as a "major" figure of the twentieth century. What in the scores justifies that word — beyond their documentary interest?

I'd say the scores themselves decide. When I first looked at his manuscripts, I immediately saw real mastery of orchestration and a language of his own. Over the past few years I've performed a number of his orchestral works, including five newly rediscovered symphonic works this year alone, and that impression has only grown. It's not just a historical curiosity. The music has imagination, individuality and mastery of craft. For me, that's what makes him major.

Where would you place his musical language: in the lineage of Rimsky-Korsakov, in a Central European post-Romanticism, or open to the French music he encountered in Paris?

His Ukrainian roots are fundamental to his musical identity. They are present throughout his melodic writing and in many of the subjects and themes he chose for his works.

At the same time, his education in St Petersburg and his studies with Rimsky-Korsakov gave him a very strong foundation, particularly in orchestration and musical craftsmanship. Then his years in France transformed this language further, bringing a new refinement, transparency and sensitivity to colour.

For me, what makes Akimenko so fascinating is precisely this combination: Ukrainian roots, the Rimsky-Korsakov tradition and the influence of French musical culture, all brought together in a very individual voice.

Akimenko was Stravinsky's first teacher. Does his music bear traces of that relationship — or do their paths diverge radically?

Their paths diverged quite radically. Akimenko remained essentially a post-Romantic composer, while Stravinsky became one of the great modernist innovators of the twentieth century.

They shared the same roots in the Rimsky-Korsakov tradition, but from that common foundation their musical languages developed in very different directions. So I would see the connection more in their shared background than in any lasting stylistic resemblance.

In what sense do his life and work concern, as you put it, "Ukraine as much as France"? What place does Paris hold in his catalogue?

From 1903 onwards, Akimenko's life became closely connected with France, especially Paris and Nice. Although there were periods when he lived elsewhere — in Prague and in his native Kharkiv — France remained a central point of reference for him for the rest of his life, until his death in Paris in 1945.

That long connection inevitably left its mark on his music. His work retains very strong Ukrainian roots, but at the same time it absorbed the atmosphere, colour and refinement of French musical culture. In that sense, his life and his music genuinely belong to both Ukraine and France.

Your research drew mainly on the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and on private archives. What state were the manuscripts in? What was complete, and what was missing?

The Bibliothèque nationale de France holds the largest part of Akimenko's surviving musical archive, including a wide range of documents, sketches and scores. Some works are incomplete, but a remarkable number of the orchestral scores are fully finished.

What is particularly striking is that many of these manuscripts bear notes in Akimenko's own hand such as "préparé pour l'édition" ("prepared for publication"). So these were not simply private sketches or abandoned projects. In many cases, they were works he clearly considered complete and hoped to see published and performed during his lifetime.

What place does this opera hold in Akimenko's output? Is it his only venture into opera, and does the fact that he reorchestrated it in 1940, more than twenty-five years after composing it, suggest it was a score particularly close to his heart?

The surviving correspondence with the librettist Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi makes it clear that La Vierge des Glaciers occupied a very special place in Akimenko's work. We know that he tried to interest the Paris Opéra and its director in a staged production, and that after his period in Prague he returned to France with the explicit intention of moving the project forward.

The fact that he later returned to the score and reorchestrated it, more than twenty-five years after its original composition, is also very significant. All of this suggests that the opera was not simply one work among many, but a project of exceptional personal importance to him, and perhaps one of the central works of his musical legacy and identity.

The war in 2022 turned a curiosity into a necessity. Is Ukrainian repertoire listened to today for its music, or first for what it represents? How can rediscovery avoid becoming merely a gesture of the moment?

Promoting Ukrainian music has been part of my work for years, long before the war. What changed after 2022 was not the value of the music, but the urgency. Ukraine became present in people's minds, and that created a rare opportunity to bring to light important parts of Ukrainian and French cultural history that had remained hidden for decades.

The historical moment may open the door, but only the quality of the music can keep that door open.

Le Baiser de la fée at the Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie: www.opera-orchestre-montpellier.fr/evenements/le-baiser-de-la-fee

Kirill Karabits's website: www.kirillkarabits.com

Interview by Pierre-Jean Tribot

Crédits Photographiques : Thomas Morel-Fort