New opera season to open with Eugene Onegin

The opera season will open on 29 September with a performance of Eugene Onegin. The audience will see last season’s final premiere in a somewhat different light. New colour will be brought to the production by a different cast and by the fact that the conductor’s podium will be occupied not by Vasily Petrenko, whose busy schedule does not permit him to be in St. Petersburg at this time, but by the theatre’s Principal Conductor, Mikhail Tatarnikov.

The three performances of Eugene Onegin will feature some remarkable singers. Dmitry Korchak’s performances at the premiere were a huge success. Music critics wrote at the time: “Korchak is one of those tenors who was born for the role of Lensky”. Izvestia remarked: “Dmitry Korchak’s singing is unrivalled; he controls the colours in his voice with the precision of an organist switching registers.” The audience on 29 September will have another chance to hear this stellar tenor in his best role.

On 29 September and 1 October the part of Tatiana will be sung by Mikhailovsky Theatre soloist Tatiana Ryaguzova, who shone in this role in Andriy Zholdak’s production and will now be appearing for the first time in Vasily Barkhatov’s version. The title role on these two days will be sung by Boris Pinkhasovich. Asmik Grigorian will assume the role of Tatiana on 30 September. Theatregoers may remember her tour de force in the premiere of Eugene Onegin last summer, when she sang this most difficult of roles for three evenings running. Playing opposite Asmik Grigorian will be the Mariinsky Theatre soloist Alexey Markov, whose “powerful” baritone “with typical Russian malleability” is heard at the world’s leading opera houses.

The opera season promises a plethora of outstanding events. As early as 8 October the theatre will be showing one of the most important productions in its repertoire — Jacques Halévy’s La Juive, an opera not often performed at the Mikhailovsky as it requires a unique cast. The part of Eléazar will be sung by the legendary Neil Shicoff, holder of a Golden Mask national theatre award. The role of Cardinal de Brogni will be performed by the Dutch bass-baritone Harry Peeters and that of Léopold by the Italian tenor Gian Luca Pasolini. The female parts will be sung by soloists from the Mikhailovsky opera company: Rachel by Tatiana Ryaguzova and Eudoxie by Natalia Mironova. The opera will be conducted by Peter Feranec.

The beginning of the season will also feature two Italian operas that are invariably audience favourites: Puccini’s Tosca will be performed on 4 October and Verdi’s La Traviata on 11 October.