As the year draws to a close, we both reflect on what we have achieved and look to what lies ahead. Having won the competition for a Presidential Fund grant, the Leonid Yacobson Ballet Theatre is now beginning work on a new two-act ballet, Onegin.

The project application was submitted jointly with the St. Petersburg Pushkin Foundation. Andrian Fadeev will direct the production personally.

Alexander Pushkin’s celebrated novel-in-verse stands not only as a pinnacle of Russian literature, but also as one of the central pillars of the greater Russian cultural identity. This is reflected both in its many screen adaptations and in the enduring popularity of Tchaikovsky’s eponymous opera. That said, the upcoming ballet will be set to a score by a different composer, Sergei Prokofiev.

Onegin will play at venues in Moscow and St. Petersburg. As a complementary event, visitors are invited to a travelling exhibition: An Art Gallery of Characters from the Novel Eugene Onegin, Interpreted for the Stage.