Love and regret take centre stage in the hauntingly beautiful Eugene Onegin

Opera Australia’s summer season will come to a sumptuous conclusion with Tchaikovsky’s most celebrated opera, Eugene Onegin opening at the Sydney Opera House on 17 March.

Returning to the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage for the first time since 2014, this is a world-class collaboration between Opera Australia, Teatro Reggio Torino and The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, whose previous Director of Opera, Kasper Holten is the brainchild of this “hyper-intelligent, deeply moving production” (Limelight).

 

 

Holten’s production, which will be revived by rising star director Heather Fairbairn, uses flashback and memory to drive the story visually and complement Tchaikovsky’s passionate lyrical score.

Despite being best known for his ballets including Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin is a passionate and poignant opera filled with beautiful, sweeping music that powerfully captures the human experience including the intensity of first love, the devastation of rejection and the haunting lingering of regret.

Acclaimed Australian soprano Lauren Fagan, who is fast becoming one of her generation’s most compelling performers, makes a triumphant homecoming to star as Tatyana.

 

 

Joining Fagan on stage is Ukrainian baritone Andrei Bondarenko, who makes his third appearance with Opera Australia, as Onegin while Australian tenor Nicholas Jones performs his role debut as Lensky. Leading the OA orchestra through the lavish orchestrations and soulful score is internationally celebrated award-winning conductor and composer Anna Skryleva in her highly anticipated Australian debut.

Mia Stensgaard’s set design of a common period building serves as a blank canvas for projections to literally fill the building with memories. As Tatyana and Onegin watch their younger selves make choices that inevitably change the course of their lives, the memories pile up on stage confronting audiences with the harrowing reality of reminiscence and regret.

 

 

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Season Details

Venue: Sydney Opera House
Date: 17–28 Mar 2026

For more information click HERE