EUGENE ONEGIN

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”.

Svetlana Aksenova

Soprano. She studied singing at the RimskyKorsakov Conservatory in St Petersburg, where she attracted critical attention for her interpretation of P. I. Tchaikovsky's Iolanta. Her recent roles include Tsaritsa (The Tale of Tsar Saltan) at La Monnaie in Brussels. She made her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 2013/2014 season in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya.

Audun Iversen

Baritone. In 2007 he won first prize at the Queen Sonja Competition in Oslo. Recent engagements include roles as Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) at the San Francisco Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin and the title role in Eugene Onegin in Copenhagen and at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. This is his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Alexey Neklyudov

Tenor. Throughout his career, he has sung roles such as Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) at the Salzburg Festival, Lenski (Eugene Onegin) at the Bregenz and Moscow Festivals, Ferrando (Così fan tutte) at the Opernhaus Zürich and Nemorino (L'elisir d'amore) at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. This is his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Andrea Mastroni

Bass. His awards include the Mario Basiola Prize (2005), the Giuseppe Di Stefano Prize (Trapani) and the 37th Franco Abbiati Prize. His most recent engagements include his participation in Tom Morris' production of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, which was his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper. He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 2018/2019 season with Agrippina