Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

A look, a letter, a refusal… and a whole life changes. (Re)discover Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky’s absolute masterpiece, in Laurent Pelly’s ascetic staging for La Monnaie / De Munt.

In Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky captures with overwhelming accuracy the fragility of feelings and the cruelty of destiny. Pride pushes a man to refuse a sincere love, impulsiveness precipitates another towards a tragic end, while time widens the gap between what could have been and what will never be. Adapted from Pushkin’s masterpiece, this lyrical opera navigates between bursts of passion and wounds of the past, carried by a score where the music seems to prolong the characters’ silences and regrets.

Laurent Pelly signs a subtle and evocative staging, where the lightness of illusions contrasts with the weight of remorse. In this visual setting, Alain Altinoglu infuses the Orchestre symphonique and the Chœur de La Monnaie with vibrant energy, capturing both youthful fever and the gravity of destiny. The cast dazzles with its dramatic intensity: Stéphane Degout embodies an Onegin full of wounded pride, Sally Matthews illuminates Tatiana with poignant sincerity, and Bogdan Volkov lends Lensky a shattering ardor.

From a sparkling ball to the shadows of a duel, from the impulses of a first love to the silences that come too late, Eugene Onegin is a vertigo of emotions where the brilliance of youth mixes with the melancholy of lost opportunities. A masterpiece of Russian romanticism, between brilliance and heartbreak.

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin [DVD & Blu-ray]

Music : Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto : Konstantin Shilovsky after Alexander Pushkin