Eugene Onegin at the Met

Last Friday, the Lincoln Center seemed to be the Red Square. The premiere of Eugene Onegin occurred at the Met, after an absence of almost ten years. The Russians were everywhere: Valery Gergiev conducted his first Russian role at the Met; Hvorostovsky proved what we all knew, namely that his charisma was born for the role of Onegin. Elena Zaremba performed wonderfully well as Tatiana's lively sister and other roles, such as Olga's mother and her nanny were also played by Russian singers. Even Netrebko was attending the event, probably to enjoy Renée Fleming's skillful performance.

Nevertheless, the surprise came from the the Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas, who performed his first role in Russian -Ouch! Not only was the singing splendid, one could clearly identify Pushkin's Lenski in his improvised insecure gestures. I was also deeply moved by the love aria powerfully sang by Sergei Alekshashkin. His voice melted the cold reluctant wall we unconsciously build up after repeatedly experiencing the dispair of rejection. He succesfully brought us back to that good feeling of falling in love again.