The performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at Lyric Opera of Chicago on Monday night was a Slavic stew to which ever greater heat was applied until it was bubbling furiously by the end of the performance.
Much of that vocal and dramatic intensity came from the pairing of Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role and Dina Kuznetsova as Tatyana, whom Onegin initially spurns but who turns the tables on him in the final scene. Both singers drew sustained applause and rightly so, because they are the real thing.
Kwiecien’s first Lyric Onegin marked the acclaimed young Polish baritone’s return to the roster after an absence of five seasons. He had big shoes to fill, taking up the signature role of Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who announced last year he would take early leave of the Robert Carsen production to be with his family in Europe.
Kwiecien and Hvorostovsky are among the finest Onegins today; neither is superior to the other, just different. Kwiecien is shorter, younger and more slender of build than the silver-maned Siberian. Kwiecien cuts an uncommonly handsome figure, carries himself elegantly and brings an intriguing touch of preening narcissism to the man of the world whose world finally collapses around him (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
Kwiecien’s firm and attractive lyric baritone may not command the easy, rolling amplitude of his colleague. But he can turn on the power when needed, particularly in the last scene, in which Onegin confronted his dormant feelings for Tatyana. The passion generated by the romantic leads could have lit up the Loop for a month.
Onegin clung to Tatyana while she, realizing she still loved him but must remain faithful to her husband, struggled to free herself from his desperate embrace. Hot stuff indeed.
Onegin’s Act 1 aria was tenderly sung, as if he were chiding his young sister for her girlish impulsiveness — a marked contrast with Hvorostovsky’s callous rejection of Tatyana’s naive affection.
Once again, Kuznetsova delivered a Letter Scene at once luminous and vibrantly dramatic. Tenor Frank Lopardo was announced as singing through a cold, but his ardently sung Lensky gave scant evidence of it.
Mezzo Catherine Wyn-Rogers brought the right vocal gravity to Tatyana’s nurse, while the roles of Olga (Nino Surguladze), Gremin (Vitalij Kowaljow) and Madame Larina (Marie Plette) remained as impressively sung as before. Andrew Davis conducted.
———-
Remaining performances of “Eugene Onegin” are 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Monday, also 2 p.m. March 27 and 30; phone 312-332-2244.
jvonrhein@tribune.com
