Debuts in the opera Eugene Onegin

Scence from the opera Eugene Onegin

On 16 April three soloists of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers will be making their debuts in Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin: soprano Maria Bayankina will be appearing as Tatiana for the first time, baritone Andrei Bondarenko will be performing the title role and mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina will be singing the role of Olga.

The opera Eugene Onegin, the genre of which the composer defined as “lyric scenes”, demands incredible performance sincerity and simplicity from the singers. It was not by chance that Tchaikovsky entrusted the premiere in March 1879 to young performers – students of the Moscow Conservatoire.

Many dazzling young talents have made their Mariinsky Theatre debuts in Eugene Onegin before going on to become established stars. In the 1980s the young singers Larisa Diadkova, Tatiana Novikova, Yuri Marusin and Sergei Leiferkus all shone in Yuri Temirkanov’s production.

Like their predecessors, the soloists of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers must bring to life the soulful world of Pushkin’s young, passionate and restless characters both dramatically and vocally.

Baritone Andrei Bondarenko, who is performing the title role, has already been praised at prestigious international competitions, among them the BBC Singer of the World competition in Cardiff (winner in the “chamber singing” category and finalist in the “opera singing” category) and the International Stanisław Moniuszko Competition in Warsaw (2nd prize). At the Mariinsky Theatre the singer has performed numerous lead roles in the baritone repertoire and immediately won critical and public acclaim in addition to appearing at festivals in Salzburg and Glyndebourne where he has sung in operas by Donizetti, Puccini and Mozart. In 2013 Andrei Bondarenko enjoyed tremendous success following his debut at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in the title role of the Russian premiere of Benjamin Britten’s opera Billy Budd.

Soprano Maria Bayankina made her Mariinsky Theatre debut this season as Violetta Valéry (La traviata) and Tsaritsa Militrisa (The Tale of Tsar Saltan). The role of one of the most romantic and vivid characters in Russian music marks a new stage in the promising singer’s career.

Mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina has already performed the role of Olga at several theatres, though she will be performing it at the Mariinsky Theatre for the first time. Critics invariably refer to the beauty of the singer’s timbre and her “clear, expressive and pliant mezzo-soprano voice” (St Petersburg Theatre Journal).