Tchaikovsky’s thriller, set against the backdrop of Tsarist Russia, is back in the Met’s atmospheric staging. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva makes her highly anticipated role debut as Lisa, the young woman who embarks on a deadly love affair with the gambling-obsessed officer Hermann, sung by tenor Arsen Soghomonyan in his Met debut. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts the sweeping score.
From the Met: "A work of extreme moods and colors, 'The Queen of Spades' explores life’s frivolities as well as the darkest impulses of obsession, addiction, madness and self-destruction.
"The gripping plot is set against the vast elegance and macabre allure of St. Petersburg, which functions almost as a character itself. Tchaikovsky’s lyric mastery is equally apparent throughout the whole of this remarkable score, which moves deftly from the most elegant to the most harrowing situations."
Read the synopsis from the Metropolitan Opera.
Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto: Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky
CAST
Lisa: Sonya Yoncheva
Pauline: Maria Barakova
Countess: Violeta Urmana
Hermann: Arsen Soghomonyan
Prince Yeletsky: Igor Golovatenko
Tomsky: Alexey Markov
