Onegin

John Cranko’s Onegin is regarded as the most successful full-length narrative ballet of the second half of the 20th century and the only one that can hold a candle to key works of the classic repertoire such as Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. Based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin (1833), the work was premiered by the Stuttgart Ballet in 1965 and played a key role in the so-called “Stuttgart Ballet miracle”. Over the past 60 years, Onegin has conquered ballet stages around the world. Now Cranko’s masterpiece, which uses the music of Tchaikovsky, is coming to the Semperoper stage for the first time. At the heart of the work are two complex protagonists: the shy young woman Tatiana, who falls head over heels in love with the arrogant dandy Onegin, who, in turn, brusquely rejects her love and abruptly destroys any hope of a loving relationship. It is only after some years that Onegin appreciates what he has rejected: the love of his life. Sadly, the realisation comes too late – Tatiana is lost to him. Cranko’s choreography is a wonderful partner piece to Tchaikovsky’s most popular Russian opera, Eugene Onegin (1879), with which it shares only the story by Pushkin, whose novel is a veritable classic of world literature. The music for Onegin was arranged and orchestrated by Cranko’s music director Kurt-Heinz Stolze, who knew exactly how to guide and accompany the drama and emotional shifts in this truly gripping ballet. Countless dancers have followed in the footsteps of the original principals Marcia Haydée and Ray Barra. Now a new generation of performers is waiting in Dresden to fill these iconic roles with life and tell the poignant love story through the language of dance.