(Reuters) -Tenor Vladislav Gorai, a soloist with the Odesa National Opera, died on Sunday while engaged in a volunteer mission in the northern region of Sumy bordering Russia, opera officials said.
More than three years after launching its war against Ukraine, Russia moved further into Sumy last week, threatening the regional capital in a dual advance with fierce frontline fighting and relentless missile and drone attacks.
"The whole world knew the voice of Vladislav Vikentiiovych, but his heart belonged to Ukraine," the opera said in a Facebook statement on Sunday. "Even in the darkest times, he did not stay aside - he helped, volunteered, supported."
It added, "The Odesa National Opera has been orphaned."
It was not immediately clear how Gorai, designated in 2013 an Honoured Artist of Ukraine, died. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
On its website, the opera says Gorai worked with the Odesa theatre since 1993, after graduating in 1988 from the music faculty of the Vinnytsia State Pedagogical Institute.
He participated in international opera projects in cities such as Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Lyon, Strasbourg and Zurich.
Among the international music houses with which he worked were Madrid's Teatro Monumental and Romania's State Opera and Ballet Theater. He toured Britain, Canada, Italy and the United States, among other countries.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
