Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin

From The latest stories from www.wqxr.org

May 2, 2026

About this episode

This episode features a performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin by the Metropolitan Opera.

Listen Saturday, May 2nd at 1 pm. The Metropolitan Opera’s 2025-26 season of Saturday matinee broadcasts continues on May 2 with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin . The poignant drama, based on Pushkin’s novel in verse, stars Ukrainian baritone Iurii Samoilov in the title role of the charismatic but aimless young gentleman. Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, hailed as one of today’s most exciting singing actresses, is the humble Tatiana, who falls hopelessly in love with Onegin and works up the courage to send him an impassioned letter. And French tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac plays Onegin’s friend, the sensitive poet Lenski. The cast also features Maria Barakova, Alexander Tsymbalyuk, and Larissa Diadkova. Maestro Timur Zangiev makes his network broadcast debut conducting the Met Orchestra and Chorus. Read a synopsis of the opera. CONDUCTOR:Timur ZangievCAST:Onegin - Iurii SamoilovTatiana - Asmik GrigorianLenski - Stanislas de BarbeyracOlga - Maria BarakovaPrince Gremin - Alexander TsymbalyukFilippyevna - Larissa Diadkova Give WQXR morning host Jeff Spurgeon three minutes and he'll give you an entire opera. Listen to his brand new 3-minute summary of Eugene Onegin…

People in this episode

Host: Jeff Spurgeon

Guests: Iurii Samoilov, Asmik Grigorian, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Timur Zangiev

Topics covered

opera
Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin
performance
Metropolitan Opera
music

Keywords

Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin
opera performance
Metropolitan Opera
Timur Zangiev

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Metropolitan Opera

Books & works: Eugene Onegin