Thanks to the efforts of Maestro Vasyl Vasylenko, the festival was set up in 1998 in Odessa in the period of total reconstruction of the Odessa Opera Theatre, built by famous Austrian architects F.Fellner and H.Helmer. The festival like a spiritual bell managed to attract the close attention of the world's community to the problems of one of the most precious diamonds in the opera crown of Ukraine. The name of the festival has a deep symbol ic meaning since its main idea is saving and promoting renaissance of the architectu ral "crown" of the city wit h its internal gold decor glorified on its stage the opera kings Enrico Caruso, Tito Ruffo, Fyodor Shalyapin, Solomiya Krushelnitska and many others. The legend of opera art, the Opera Diva Irina Arkhipova blessed the opening of the festival.

 

Over the years ZOLOTA KORONA festival has represented around 100 foreign and national performers, who have taken part in more than 40 performances and 15 Gala-concerts of the festival. ZOLOTA KORONA festival has featured such guests as lozella lidgi, Manami Hama, Mauricio Graciani, Mauro Augustini, Bruno Sebastian, Lyudmila Shemchuk, Viktor Tchernomortsev, Alexander Gergalov, Shalva Mukeria, Victoria Lukyanets, Corneliu Murgu, Vladislav Piavko, Yuri Nechayev, Miki Mori, Badri Maysuradze, Andres Veramendi, Lee Byung Sam, Eugeniy Orlov and many other famous performers.

 

Within five year period ZOLOTA  KORONA was opened by the parade of opera stars near the entrance  to  the  famous   Potyomkin's Staircase and later on Theatre Square in front of the  main entrance  to  Odessa  Opera Theatre. Thanks  to the  festival's  open-air theatrical  stage  and specially  installed displays more than 150 thousands of opera art lovers annually had the possibility free of charge to enjoy singing of opera stars from Vienna Opera House, La Scala, Rome Opera Theatre, Mariinskiy and Bolshoy theatres and many others.

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From 2004-2011 the International Opera Art Festival ZOLOTA KORONA had hold on the stage of Donetsk National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in the capital of Donbass region, Sergey Prokofiev’s homeland. Since 2013 the festival has been hold in Kiev, Ukraine. According to the tradition, the festival includes some opera performances and ends with Gala Сoncert of opera stars.