Eugene Onegin at The Royal Ballet and Opera

The Onegin Line

The last production of Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin at Covent Garden was a bit of a mixed bag; it featured an incandescent central performance from the great Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Onegin that was given added edge by the fact that the singer was undergoing treatment for the brain tumour that prematurely ended his life at the age of 55. However, Kasper Holten’s high-concept production featuring two dancers did not find favour with audiences or critics.

This brings us to The Royal Opera’s new production of Onegin with American director Ted Huffman at the helm. Huffman is making his house debut on the Royal Opera House Main Stage having previously directed The Royal Opera’s adaptation of Sarah Kane’s play 4.48: Psychosis at the Lyric Hammersmith. With a lacerating score by Philip Venables, the play’s themes of clinical depression and suicide were unflinchingly brought to life in Hufmann’s production.

Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, ‘an opera in seven lyric scenes’, is based on the verse novel of the same name by Alexander Pushkin and is a work central to Russian cultural identity. The story follows the life of the bored aristocrat Eugene Onegin, who moves from St. Petersburg to the countryside. There, he befriends the young poet Vladimir Lensky and meets Lensky’s fiancée Olga and her sister Tatyana. Tatyana is an impressionable young woman, a lover of romantic literature, and she falls in love with Onegin, pouring her heart out in the famous letter scene; but Onegin rejects her advances. At Tatyana’s birthday ball, Onegin flirts with Olga to spite Lensky, leading to a duel in which Onegin kills his friend. Years later, Onegin returns to St. Petersburg and encounters Tatyana again, now married to a much older prince. He realises he has fallen in love with her, but it is too late as Tatyana, although torn, remains faithful to her husband.

Tchaikovsky began composing the opera in 1877 and completed it in 1878. The opera, with a libretto by Konstantin Stepanovich Shilovsky and the composer, was first performed on March 29th, 1879 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. It was not an immediate success, with critics finding fault with the plot and characters. However, Tchaikovsky’s sweepingly romantic score helped the opera gain popularity and by the late 19th century, Eugene Onegin was considered a cornerstone of Russian opera repertoire.

Set Designer Hyemi Shin has an aesthetic of pared-down modernism, effective at Covent Garden in recent productions of Wozzeck and Samson et Dalila, but not so suitable for Onegin and in some ways recalling Michael Levine’s similarly minimal set design for the Robert Carsen 2022 production for the San Francisco Opera. The stage was mostly bare apart from occasional chairs and tables, with the wings cut off by 2 menacing ‘concrete’ constructions that spoke of totalitarian bleakness. D. M. Wood’s lighting design swathed the stage in shrouds of grey and black. Maybe there was a political point being made? The production was certainly rooted in some unspecific past, with the designer dowdiness of Astrid Klein costumes referencing the 1950s to the 70s. However, the set didn’t interfere with the drama even if it didn’t resonate with the textured emotions of the work.

Canadian bass-baritone Gordon Bintner debuted in the role of Onegin at the San Francisco Opera having previously been in the chorus at the Frankfurt Opera. Resplendent in a glittery black suit, he cut a fine figure on stage. He embodied Onegin’s arrogance, controlling tendencies, and emotional repression, managing the moment of self-realisation well in the final act. Bintner was on a hiding to nothing following in the footsteps of Hvorostovsky, but even so, his Onegin lacked vocal power and conviction with a couple of wobbly moments. It may have been an off day.

As Tatyana, Russian soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan was fabulous. Not only beautiful she was vocally commanding, managing the transition from the passion and innocence of a naive ingenue, to a more worldly and commanding character able to easily control her destiny and resist her own feelings for Onegin. She is a star with a gloriously velvet tone, a wonderful technique and a commanding stage presence.

Armenian tenor Liparit Avetisyan as Onegin’s best friend Lensky was similarly brilliant. He was a terrific Germont in La Traviata but here was able to conjure up a sublime delicacy of feeling in his love for Olga as well as the jealous rage of a thwarted lover. His voice has a lyric radiance which is a pleasure to listen to.

American mezzo Avery Amereau made an impressive Royal Opera debut as Olga, Tatyana’s sister, flirting convincingly with Onegin. She has a surprisingly mature tone with a lustre that bodes well for the future.

Royal Opera House favourite Brindley Sherratt stood in for Ukrainian bass Dmitry Belosselskiy to deliver an avuncular Prince Gremin, thrilled to have a gorgeous young bride. Sherratt always delivers and it was good to see him not playing the baddie for a change.

British mezzo Alison Kettlewell as Larina, Tatyana’s mother, has a wonderfully warm sound and tonal focus  and convinced as the mother of the two young women.

New Zealand contralto Rhonda Browne as Filipyevna the family nanny was a reassuringly matriarchal figure.