I knew going in that I was going to enjoy the music. I’ve seen the opera before, and, even if I hadn’t, it’s Tchaikovsky. What I didn’t expect was to leave having seen the most convincing Eugene I can imagine.
Ukrainian baritone Iurii Samoilov both sang and acted his heart out. He oozed smugness in the opening act, and you know the acting is good when you just want to punch him in the face despite the fantastic singing. His desperation in the second half had such deep feeling without ever being overdone.
Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian was another highlight. It’s a difficult character to play convincingly given the range from teenage girl to queen of St. Petersburg society, and she pulled off both.
Chloe Obolensky’s costumes were appropriately lush, especially in Act III, but I surprisingly loved the traditional Russian peasant costumes in Act I even more.
My biggest complaint was the sets by Tom Pye. Don’t get me wrong — they looked lovely. My issue was that there was a significant pause between every scene to change them, and the sets were not impressive enough that I felt it was a fair trade-off in terms of losing a bit of momentum over the course of almost four hours. However, if my biggest complaint is the sets, you know I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel for something.
Funnily enough, a few years back I was lucky enough to see the ballet version of Onegin in Munich, which uses Tchaikovsky’s music, but not his music from the opera. Despite not being a ballet connoisseur, I liked it a lot, though the opera remains my favorite. There’s a reason Pushkin’s story stands the test of time.
Opera: Eugene Onegin
Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Venue: The Metropolitan Opera
Date: May 16, 2026
Link: https://www.metopera.org/season/2025-26-season/eugene-onegin/
Opera Nerd 
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