Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera

One Gin was not quite enough for me to get through this. New production. Directorial debut of Kasper Holten. Simon Keenlyside as Eugene Onegin. It could have been so good. It wasn't. The least distracting was the staging - a few pillars, projected backdrops to portray the fields, bedroom, sun rise, snow storm did work. The orchestra played the score well under Ticciati, bar a few moments that lacked momentum.

Krassimira Stoyanova just didn't have the appropriate mannerism for Tatyana. Her voice was good but there was not enough ring and agility to portray the character adequately. And what's this dancing in the Letter Scene? I thought the female dancer was supposed to be Tatyana's imagination. But it really didn't work when Nurse (Kathleen Wilkinson sang that well) started singing at the dancer! Nyet!

The same thing recurred during the duel between Onegin and Lensky. There it was - the alto ego of Onegin milling around. Double Vision! Nyet!

And there was NO BALLROOM SCENE!!! The grand polonaise provided the cue, but one expected a scene at court, courtiers dancing, not modern dancers doing something completely different. Nyet!

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Bruckner 7 and Haitink's last appearance at the BBC Proms

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