Most recent performance
There are currently no scheduled performances of Onegin. It was last on stage 24 January—27 February 2015 as part of the Winter 2014/15 season.
The Story
When sensitive Tatiana declares her love for the dashing Eugene Onegin, he coldly rejects her. He idly flirts with her sister, Olga, enraging her fiancé and Onegin's only friend, Lensky, who challenges Onegin to a duel.
Read more… (Contains spoilers)
Background
John Cranko became acquainted with Alexander Pushkin’s verse-novel Eugene Onegin when he choreographed the dances for Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky’s opera of the same name in 1952. He created his own distinctive version of Pushkin’s work in 1965 for the Stuttgart Ballet. Onegin displays all of Cranko’s genius as a narrative choreographer, featuring finely drawn characters who are transformed by the conflicts they face.
Onegin and Tatiana’s relationship is depicted in intense duets, such as the letter-writing scene, when the youthful Tatiana dances a dream pas de deux with her longed-for lover. The role of Tatiana offers a ballerina many challenges – the development of a bookish country girl into a sophisticated woman at the pinnacle of St Petersburg society requires dramatic sensibility and technical finesse. Cranko’s choreography incorporates an eclectic range of dance forms, including folk, modern, ballroom and acrobatic. Kurt-Heinz Stolze, Kapellmeister for Stuttgart Ballet, created for Cranko a soaring arrangement of music by Tchaikovsky, not from the opera but drawing principally on his works for piano.
News and features
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Female Character Artists: from loving mother to bloodthirsty baddy
5 February 2015
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Watch: Matthew Ball and Vadim Muntagirov on dancing the role of Lensky
5 February 2015
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Watch: Thiago Soares and Valeri Hristov on dancing the role of Onegin
4 February 2015
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Watch: Natalia Osipova on Onegin – ‘A dream for any ballerina’
30 January 2015
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Cast Change: Nicol Edmonds to dance in Onegin on 27 January 2015
26 January 2015
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Your reaction: Onegin
25 January 2015