A masterpiece of Russian opera, a true manual of romantic thought

“I am yours! My whole life has been a pledge of this inevitable encounter”
Eugene Onegin (Act I, Scene 2 - Tatiana) 

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This new co-production with the Oslo Opera and the Teatro Real de Madrid perfectly addresses all the nuances of Tatiana Larin’s character: the transition from a novel-loving girl blossoming into a cosmopolitan and elegant young princess. Awaiting her, love at first sight: the enigmatic Onegin, who sings the title role, an aristocrat obsessed with appearances who could never be happy with a country girl like Tatiana and discovers the power of love too late.  

In November 1836, the French Lieutenant Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d’Anthès was harassing the beautiful Natalia Nikolayevna Goncharova, Pushkin’s wife, and Pushkin challenged him to a duel. Pride that would cost him everything. Under a snowy sky on the evening of 8 February 1837, and at the height of his glory, Alexander Pushkin, the Russian Lord Byron, died in a pistol duel sparked by this amorous confrontation, immortalising a way of life that defines countless young people who are as much in love as they are depressed. Romanticism: a way of thinking and feeling shared by numerous artists for more than a century. Tchaikovsky, who was already 40 years old when Onegin premiered at the Moscow Conservatory, could never have imagined that only three years later it would be performed at the great Bolshoi.  

Curiously, the same duel scene had been described six years earlier in the verses of his Eugene Onegin, a masterpiece of Russian opera, a true manual of romantic thought and an intimate work, which takes us to the depths of the human mind, to the fragility and irredeemable cracks in the souls of its protagonists. Closely linked to the original text, this production by Christof Loy eschews traditionalism in favour of minimalist scenography that helps to underline the inner worlds of the characters and bring us closer to the personal drama and obsessions of a Tatiana “bursting with life”. 

With the support of

Eugene Onegin

OPERA IN THREE ACTS
Libretto by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Konstantin Shilovsky based on Alexander Puskin’s homonymous novel in verse. 
World premiere: 29/3/1879 at Moscow’s Conservatory
Barcelona premiere: 4/1/1955 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu
Last Liceu performance: 29/5/1998
Total number of Liceu performances: 25 

Cast Change

Bass-baritone Sam Carl joins the cast of Eugene Onegin in the roles of Prince Gremin and Zaretsky, replacing Andrea Mastroni, who ultimately cannot participate in the production due to personal reasons.

On October 8th, tenor Josep Bros performs the role of Vladimir Lenski, replacing Alexey Neklyudov.