Anna Netrebko reprises one of her most acclaimed roles as Tatiana, the naïve heroine of Tchaikovsky’s opera, adapted from Pushkin’s classic novel. Dmitri Hvorostovsky stars as the title character, who rejects Tatiana’s love until it’s too late.  Robin Ticciati, Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, conducts the revival of Deborah Warner’s staging, which opened the Met’s 2013-14 season. Alexey Dolgov sings the role of Onegin’s friend-turned-rival, Lenski, with Elena Maximova as Tatiana’s sister Olga and Štefan Kocán as Prince Gremin.

The opera is based on Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin’s iconic verse novel, which re-imagines the Byronic romantic anti-hero as the definitive bored Russian aristocrat caught between convention and ennui at the beginning of the XIX century. The opera’s three acts create a vivid panorama of Russian life – from the timeless rituals of rural life, the flirts and the duels to the glittering imperial aristocracy of St. Petersburg, while the music adds sophistication and melancholy. The Met’s production places the action later in the 19th century, around the time of the opera’s premiere, which took place at Moscow’s Bolshoy Theatre in 1881.

Anna Netrebko gives an irresistibly wholehearted performance as Tatyana.

Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph