John Cranko's masterpiece, Onegin, returns to the Royal Opera House at the end of this month. Created for the Stuttgart Ballet in 1965, the Royal Ballet first performed this production in 2001 and have since made it a staple of the repertory.
The upcoming performances feature role débuts from Principal dancer Natalia Osipova and First Soloist Itziar Mendizabal as Tatiana and Nehemiah Kish and Matthew Golding as Onegin. The role of Lensky sees débuts from Principal dancer Vadim Muntagirov, First Artist Nicol Edmonds and Artists Matthew Ball and Donald Thom.
Onegin
24 January at 2pm and 7pm / 27, 28, 30 January at 7.30pm / 31 January at 12.30pm / 2, 4 February at 7.30pm / 7 February at 12.30pm / 11 February at 2.30pm and 7.30pm / 16, 18 February at 7.30pm / 27 February at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Choreography John Cranko
Music Kurt-Heinz Stolze after Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Conductor Dominic Grieg
Designs Jürgen Rose
Lighting design Steen Bjarke
casting
24 (mat) January, 2 / 11 February
Tatiana: Itziar Mendizabal *
Eugene Onegin: Nehemiah Kish*
Lensky: Nicol Edmonds*
Olga: Beatriz Stix-Brunell*
24 / 28 January, 4 February
Tatiana: Marianela Nuñez
Eugene Onegin: Thiago Soares
Lensky: Vadim Muntagirov*
Olga: Akane Takada
27 / 31 (mat) January, 27 (mat) February
Tatiana: Sarah Lamb
Eugene Onegin: Valeri Hristov
Lensky: Valentino Zucchetti
Olga: Meaghan Grace Hinkis
30 January / 7 (mat) / 16 February
Tatiana: Natalia Osipova*
Eugene Onegin: Matthew Golding*
Lensky: Matthew Ball*
Olga: Yasmine Naghdi
11 (mat) / 18 / 27 February Tatiana:
Laura Morera
Eugene Onegin: Federico Bonelli
Lensky: Donald Thom*
Olga: Yuhui Choe
* Role Debut

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.