Eugene Onegin

Based on Pushkin’s masterpiece of Russian literature, Tchaikovsky’s great opera tells of the fated love between the innocent Tatyana and the world-weary cynic Eugene Onegin. The opera includes the famous ‘letter scene’, a tour-de-force of the soprano repertoire, in which Tatyana dramatically and magnificently declares her true love for Onegin, a love that is tragically rejected. The ensuing maelstrom of emotions ends in duel between Onegin and his best friend, the poet, Lensky, which leaves Lensky dead and Onegin devastated. Years later, at the St Petersburg Ball, Onegin meets Tatyana again and realises his mistake, but now the married Tatyana is unable to accept his love.

Ellis Theatre