Our Opera Lovers Group met on Thursday 27 March 2025 with Zsuzsana for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin recorded at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2013. The opera which is in three acts, and dates from 1879 closely follows the story by Alexander Pushkin’s verse novel of the same name published some 50 years earlier.
As we would expect, the performance was musically superb with the leads being taken as follows:
| Eugene Onegin | Simon Keenlyside |
| Tatyana | Krassimira Stoyanova |
| Young Onegin | Thom Rackett |
| Young Tatyana | Vigdis Eliesersdóttir Hentze Bjørk |
| Lensky | Pavol Breslik |
| Olga | Elena Maximova |
| Madame Larina | Diana Montague |
| Filipyevna | Kathleen Wilkinson |
| Prince Gremin | Peter Rose |
| Monsiuer Triquet | Christophe Mortagne |
| Zaretsky | Jihoon Kim |
| A Captain | Michel de Souze |
| A Peasant Singer | Elliot Goldie |
| Guillot | Luke Price |
| Supported by the Royal Opera House Orchestra, the Royal Opera House Ballet and the Royal Opera House Chorus | |
The story of Eugene Onegin is told with a hindsight view of the tragic events, and this production used two ballet stars to represent the younger Onegin and Tatyana whilst their older selves sang, sharing the same stage place. There was also much hiding of letters in bookcases, and even climbing of a bookcase! Some members thought this fussiness detracted from the power of the story, but others liked the way it portrayed the current and previous times in a single space.
The music is sensational throughout, and the ensemble singing of the principles showed Tchaikovsky’s mastery of choral composition – something that is less often heard than his other works. You can find a complete history and description of the opera on this Wikipedia Page.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 22 May 2025 at 1:00 pm when we will be having a performance of The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame) which premiered in 1890.