New opera follows Ukrainian mothers on 5,000km journeys to reclaim their children

Yuliia Radzevilova’s 12-year-old son, Maksym, was meant to spend two weeks resting on Crimea after leaving in October 2022. He remained there for four months. Radzevilova, 39, then spent approximately one week travelling from Kherson through Kyiv and Poland to Belarus, before going through Moscow to occupied Crimea to bring him home.

Her journey is among those that inspired Mothers of Kherson, an opera about Russian child abductions which premiered on 16 October at Warsaw’s Grand Theatre – National Opera. The work is a co-production of Poland’s National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

In the camp portrayed in the opera, children could not speak Ukrainian. Each day opened with exercises accompanied by the Russian anthem.

Kyiv says thousands of Ukrainian children were forcibly taken to Russia and Moscow-occupied territory and subjected to what it calls “re-education”.

Maxim Kolomiiets, the Ukrainian composer and oboist who wrote the score, received a commission in 2023 through the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center New Works program to compose an opera about abducted Ukrainian children. He lives and works in Germany, and is a co-founder of the contemporary music ensemble Nostri Temporis.

Kolomiiets also makes experimental electronic music as InnerLicht. His album Dragon Songs was named album of the year in Ukrainian classical music by Ukrinform in 2024.

“Потрібно розповідати цю історію світові” (It is necessary to tell this story to the world), Kolomiiets said.

George Brant, the American playwright who wrote the libretto, began work at the start of Russia’s invasion. He was prompted by reports of mothers facing Russian interrogations and travelling hundreds of kilometres to retrieve their children.

The libretto brings together individual accounts through Kateryna and Dasha, whose daughters leave for a summer camp on Crimea. It follows their attempt to get the children back.

The mothers’ route was approximately five thousand kilometers long, taking them through Poland, Belarus and Russia to reach occupied territory.

“I think the story of the mothers cuts through political tape. It's just a very human story that I hope will connect with people,” Brant said. He said he hoped the opera would “re-awaken” Western concern for Ukraine.

Barbara Wysocka directed the Warsaw production. She has called Matki Chersonia a “documentary road opera” and described it as a politically engaged work about the mass abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children since Russia’s invasion began.

Rehearsals began in Warsaw on 1 September 2026. Before the premiere, Kolomiiets and Brant were due to meet the audience at 6pm, with Marcin Bogucki hosting the event an hour before the performance.

The opera is performed in English, with Polish and English surtitles. The Warsaw venue has hosted Ukrainian musicians since the start of the war.

A concert performance of Matki Chersonia was held on 4 June 2026 at the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv, conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson, who has also been involved in developing the work.

The production is scheduled to move to the Metropolitan Opera stage in New York in April 2028.