Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin to be held at Astana Opera

This year, the program of the Operaliya International Music Festival will once again feature for its audience Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. The famous opera will be held at Astana Opera on July 6 and 7 with participation of guest artists from Italy, Russia and Tajikistan,El.kz cites astanaopera.kz.

This production has been running as part of Astana Opera’s permanent repertoire with constant success for five years now. Every year the opera becomes a highlight of the Operaliya festival, attracting both Kazakh and international audiences. This year, a special guest of the festival, the Italian Maestro Giuseppe Acquaviva, will cut a brilliant figure at the conductor’s stand.

The cast of performers also promises to amaze and delight opera art aficionados. Guest artists from Russia, soloists of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Academic Musical Theatre, will take part in the performance. Soprano Eleonora Makarova will perform Tatyana, baritone Evgeny Kachurovsky will present Onegin. Apart from that, tenor from Tajikistan Shohrukh Yunusov will take the stage as Lensky. 

“The part of Onegin is an extremely rewarding material for me, interesting in its complexity, ambiguity and psychological authenticity. The difficulty of performing Tchaikovsky, in my opinion, lies in the feeling of the fine line between emotionality and precision. When interpreting his music, it is important to be precise: no frills, but in no case should the character portrayal become dry – it must be filled with zest, colours and your inner emotions,” Evgeny Kachurovsky said. 

“We all know that Tchaikovsky entrusted the first performance to the conservatory students and called his work not an opera, but lyrical scenes. Based on his own words, this choice was associated with the desire to see the matching of the performers-singers and their parts with the desire to avoid routine and stage habits typical of singers. Our task is to follow the composer’s vision, to be ‘living people’ onstage, relevant to today. Onegin has a large gradation in the character development throughout the performance: from laconism and restraint at the beginning to full emotional intensity in the final scene. The difficulty of this role also lies in being able to calculate one’s strength, since the climax occurs in the dramatic final duet with Tatyana in the 7th scene,” Evgeny explained. 

Music director of the production, the Astana Opera’s principal conductor, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan, laureate of the State Prize of Kazakhstan Alan Buribayev and stage director Davide Livermore offer the viewers a unique perspective on the classical work. Livermore, known for his original takes on the classics, brought a new heroine to the performance: elderly Tatyana, who relives the memories of her youth. This innovative approach highlights the tragedy of unrequited love and the desire to be freed from its burden. 

Francesco Calcagnini’s set design and the work of costume designers, Honoured Workers of Kazakhstan Sofya Tasmagambetova and Pavel Dragunov perfectly convey the 19th century atmosphere. Large-scale sets, complemented by 3D effects, and an impressive crystal chandelier create an unforgettable spectacle. The costume designers’ nuanced work helps immerse viewers in a distant romantic era, where graceful ladies in voluminous gowns and elegant gentlemen in tailcoats enliven the scenes of the work. 

“Participation in Eugene Onegin at Astana Opera as part of the Operaliya 2024 festival is my fifth production of Onegin. I am very grateful to the organisers for the invitation and such a warm welcome! For me, this is an amazing opportunity to live out this story once again, which opens up to me from a new side each time, to ask the question: why does this character, created by people of another era, excites the minds and hearts of our contemporaries? The existence of my Onegin became somewhat different due to the stage director’s individual concept of the performance. Davide Livermore, in my opinion, felt Tatyana’s arc very keenly. He shifted the focus and introduced an additional character – elderly Tatyana. It seems to me that the emphasis on the heroine Tatyana correlates well with Tchaikovsky’s perception of Pushkin’s novel. As it is known, the history of the creation of music for this opera began precisely with the scene of Tatyana’s letter and Onegin was characterised as a ‘bored metropolitan lion’. I think that the stage director’s sympathy and compassion are addressed here to Tatyana and Lensky. The visuals of the Kazakh production are very beautiful: massive sets, video projections, costumes with sumptuous trim, lighting design. I love beautiful classical productions and love even more finding in them relatability with current day. Times change, and we change with them. In general, paradoxically, one can deeply understand life using the example of theatre. You can take a fresh look at yourself, your creative potential, your psychological shortcomings. On account of theatre being like a magnifying glass or like a mirror. I really hope that performance magic will happen. I will be happy to perform the part of Eugene Onegin for the wonderful Kazakh audience,” the singer concluded.