Eugenijus Chrebtovas as Eugene Onegin in Vilnius

By Henning Høholt, Applause fotos Tomas Bagackas. Stage Foto: Martynas Aleksa, and Ugnius Naudzius

VILNIUS/LITHUANIA: 28. March 2015 we revisited the production of Eugene Onegin in Vilnius, to follow up how the production is working after we have seen, and reviewed it, at May 8th 2013. We were happy to review it again, the production is brilliant.

At the premiere, I was not prepared for Tatjanas nameday party to be an outdoor snow party event
. Now I was prepared, and I am happy to admit that it is a good way of seeing and to renew this beautiful Peter Tsjaikovsky opera. And also to end it at a railway station, though I missed a train.

 

In the titelrole it was a great pleasure to enjoy Eugenijus Chrebtovas, his voice is warm, beautiful, and is in a good way underlining his difficult life and his decissions as Onegin. It became a strong character with a lot of beautiful singing.

As Tatjana Sandra Janusaite was wonderful,

I have seen many of the leading stars in that role inclusive the last evening with Galina Visnevskaya at Palais Garnier in Paris, conducted by her husband Mtsislav Rostropovistj. Sandra Janusaite is going to be at the same high level.

Her demanding and long letter scene was a highlight, that I will long time remember. This was brilliant.

As Olga Jovita Vaskeviciute did a greatjob, I specially enjoyed the entrance part with the duet and quartet with Tatjana, Larina – Inesa Linaburgyté and their mother Eugenija Klivickaité, and she looked beautiful in her orange colour dress, and with the long blond hair.

A special reason, also, to see this Onegin performance was to listen to Tomas Pavilionis who sung his first Lensky, an did it very well. This young tenor has the voice to this kind of lyric dramatic roles, and his developement through Alfredo in La Traviata, Nemorino in L´Elisir d´Amore, Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Sevilla, in Kornetas and now as Lensky in Eugene Onegin is going in the right good and positive direction.

He has the beauty in his voice, he has the power and the pianissimo, a very good sound all the way, his last aria was a hit in the performance. He play well the roles, he is moving excellently on stage and we trusted in his figure. A very strong and handsome first Lensky. Bravo.

We trusted 100% in Liudas Norvaisas as Gremin. A beautiful bass. All the tunes, even the last difficult, very deep was there, perfect.

As Monsieur Triquet we enjoyed Rafailas Karpis, who sung the role very good
. But I dont like how he is dressed up. He dont need to look lika a transvestite, and I have not seen Triquet like that in other productions. I don´t understand that costume.

Zareckis was well sung by Ignas Misiura.

I must admit that it is a pleasure to hear this great opera sung so well in russian language by all the singers. The music is a lot in te words, and well the languag is so well used as in this production it was a great pleasure
. Unfortunately, in some opera houses, where they dont have singers which speaks Russian so well, it is often sounding like “sound” and the text is not being used as an importent part of the musically picture.

Robertas Servenikas conducted The Lithuanian National Opera Orchestra and Choire, he is a good listener, and he is by the singers and choire all the time, as far as i could see
. The Orchestra with all the many details did a great job. The choire is extraordinay good and in this opera, with so many importent and powerfull, beautiful, scenes, it was a good evening to be in the Vilnius Opera House.

Vasilij Barchotov, Regi has together with Zinovij Margolin, scenography and Marija Danilova, costumes made this Eugene Onegin visual. By plasing the main house at the hill side down to a lake, we have got new impulses. Furthermore to make Tatjanas name day party to an outdoor snowparty was a great, great idea and gave it new ideas, and the audience loved it. However why Lensky is being so jalous towards Eugene, is clear in the text, but is not so clearly visually, and furthermore that Lensky is falling down and then is dead is not so clear.

The last act at the railway station is beautifully, and to put a whole large music band on stage for playing these few lines alone is exclusive, and underline the importance of the visit of Prince Gremin and his Princess Tatjana. The following reception, where Prince Gremin sings his wonderful aria, was well arranged, and looked beautifull with all the grey colours and the red hats. However to let the audience wait for 35 minutes, before the last act was ready to start is not good. It could, and should have been done much faster. But it looked well. Furthermore, it is not only the audience waiting it is also all the staff, some hundred people, who could have left home, or out for an after performance event, is no good economy. But I know it has to do with the space behind stage. It can hopefully be enlarged in the future.

In this vision of “Eugene Onegin” director Vasily Barkhatov doesn‘t strive to make the story contemporary – instead, he is trying to decode elements of meaning that are hidden in composer’s score.
In director’s view, “Eugene Onegin” is a story that transcends time. And although the costumes have rather strict historical implications, all dramas within the opera – meetings, separations, inevitable fate – are just as relevant today, as they were a long time ago.

Please enjoy our review from 2013 when

Eugenijus Chrebtovas, baryton, made his role debut as Eugene Onegin at the Lithuanian National Opera May 8th. 2013.

of this Eugene Onegin production: http://www.kulturkompasset.com/2013/05/10/eugene-onegin-in-vilnius/