This month, the Juilliard Opera Center will present my favorite opera, Eugene Onegin, which is based on a romantic Pushkin story with passionate music by Tchaikovsky. I am originally from St. Petersburg, where Pushkin and Tchaikovsky lived. As a Russian, I have always felt deeply about Eugene Onegin and realized that it was part of my life. Now I am delighted that the young artists here in America, at The Juilliard School, are experiencing the same thrill, passion, and romance as I do for this work. As the Russian diction coach for this production, my soul is immersed in the responsibility of helping to bring this magnificent work to life.

Anton Belov will be featured in the title role, with soprano Hanan Alattar singing the role of Tatyana, in Juilliard’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. (Photo by Lisa Yelon)

In the operatic field, no one can dispute the popularity of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. There is not a single opera house in the world that would not welcome this work into its repertoire. I would even go so far as to say that most Russians know one of Pushkin's poems so well because of Tchaikovsky. And yet, Tchaikovsky himself did not expect the opera to meet with much success, as he noted when he began work on it that the subject matter consisted more of internal drama than overt action, and hardly lent itself to grand stage effects. "But the wealth of poetry, the human quality and simplicity of its subject, expressed in Pushkin's inspired lines, will make up for whatever it lacks in other ways," the composer wrote to his brother. This opera about unfulfilled desires and thwarted weddings, challenges to honor, a fatal duel, and a doomed life anticipates and reflects all too unambiguously the eventual course of the Tchaikovsky's own unhappy life. Pushkin's work also foreshadows uncannily the manner of the poet's own death in a duel six years after it was completed.

The great American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein adored the music of Tchaikovsky, and I greatly respect and admire Bernstein for bringing the works of this celebrated composer to the musical stages of the world. I grew up at a time when the Leningrad Philharmonic was one of the finest orchestras in Russia, under the leadership of Eugene Mravinsky (who was one of the best interpreters of Tchaikovsky's works). He often said that Tchaikovsky's music was played too sweetly. Therefore, he always conducted with elongated phrasing, recognizing the climaxes without dropping the energy immediately after reaching them. Even with all the diminuendos, crescendos, and commas, Mravinsky wanted the orchestra to continue, to make a longer phrase into an even bigger composition, as Tchaikovsky had written it. The recordings Mravinsky made with the Leningrad Philharmonic in the 1960s and 1970s remain as powerful as ever.

Tchaikovsky's adaptation of Tatyana's letter from Eugene Onegin is one of the greatest pieces of operatic music ever written. Tchaikovsky actually started writing from this very scene—in which an innocent young girl impetuously composes a letter full of feeling for the worldly, handsome young man she has just met that night—without realizing that he would eventually compose an entire opera around Onegin. Even if he had composed only this scene, he would have to be considered one of the most remarkable Russian composers, for the deep feeling and high passion he brings to it.

Tatyana has been described as the purest figure in Russian literature—a "Russian icon" representing the deeply felt yearnings and ideals latent in the Russian character. Tchaikovsky described her as "a young being, untouched as yet by the realities of life, a creature of pure ideal and striving passionately to grasp it." He clearly identified with his innocent heroine, who symbolized the passions in the soul of this shy, sensitive composer in his own desire for love. In fact, he wanted to name the opera Tatyana—but the government censors would not allow the work of Pushkin to be renamed. Tchaikovsky did take certain liberties in drawing his characters: The poet Lensky's overdone ardor, which Pushkin gently derides in his novel, is unforgettably conveyed in the opera. In the operatic version, his character serves the important function of contrast to the blighted personality of Onegin, who rebuffs Tatyana's passionate declarations and tells her that "I was not born for happiness; my heart is in conflict with itself. All your love and kindness would be wasted on me."

Read an autobiographical portrait by Anton Belov, who sings the title role in Eugene Onegin.

It is unusual for a company of young singers to work on this opera, but we must remember that the very first performance in 1879, at the Moscow Conservatory, was presented by an equally young group. The characters in this opera are usually represented by more experienced and older singers, so we may have forgotten that the characters in the opera itself are young: Eugene Onegin is 19, Lensky is 18, Tatyana is 17, and Olga is 16. At Juilliard, we will be portraying these individuals with performers very close in age to the characters. It is extremely challenging for young singers to perform this score in the Russian language, but I see the joy and enthusiasm that they exhibit when the music is truly explored and the text is leading the performers into this romantic novel by Pushkin. I feel profound pleasure revisiting—with deep emotion—my birthplace, St. Petersburg, where the streets are named after Tchaikovsky and Pushkin, and opening up this work of beauty and passion for these young people.

For most of our cast, this performance of Eugene Onegin is their first encounter with the Russian language. In the process of working with them on diction, I made individual audio tapes for each soloist, cover, and chorus member to study. After arriving at the point of correct diction, the subtleties of the role are then honed with each performer in order to properly portray their character. In any language, meticulous translation and attention to nuances are important in creating emotion and spirit and must be approached individually. Once each performer is comfortable with the language, then the drama and passion finds its way to the stage. Although this process may appear quite painstaking, the results have been truly wonderful, with every cast member speaking and experiencing their role as Russians.

Eugene Onegin Juilliard Theater Wednesday-Sunday, Nov. 13-17 For time and ticket information, please see the calendar.

Our production team is made up of determined and dedicated artists, all of whom are thrilled to be working on this exquisite score. Our director, Eve Shapiro, says that working on Eugene Onegin is, for her, a long-held "dream come true." She has discovered what we Russians already know: that Pushkin and Tchaikovsky provide as much insight into Russian life and ideals as Shakespeare does into English culture, with their "poetic richness and humanity," adding that "Tchaikovsky has matched Pushkin's poetry with such eloquence and musical nuance." For Julius Rudel, this production is offering his first opportunity in his nearly 58-year-long career to conduct Tchaikovsky's operatic masterpiece. "I love this work, in which the music and drama are so well integrated, and the Juilliard cast is lovely," Maestro Rudel says.

"Let my opera be undramatic, let it have little action—but I am in love with the image of Tatyana, I am enraptured with Pushkin's verse, and I'm writing music for them because I am drawn to them," Tchaikovsky wrote. Juilliard's production of this much-loved opera will demonstrate, thanks to the efforts of these wonderful young singers and musicians, why audiences have followed the composer's own path in being "drawn to them" as well.