Yevgeny Onegin - Act III Arioso - Thomas Allen

[IJnet]

Kathryn ( Bouleyn ) Day still sings at NY Met, as well as a few other places.

[tenore23]

wow! where can I get a copy of this whole thing?

[a96agli]

Allen is awesome in this role, but my god this production looks outdated! And he would have been only in his 30s when this was made, and the character probably younger, so why that hideous grey hair?

[drtmuir]

@a96agli Don't know, especially since Onegin is a youngish man. Did you ever see the film with Ralph Fiennes?

[WJCairns]

You mean that the producer committed the heinous offence of respecting the original setting and failed to transform it into a fued between the Crips and the Bloods? Sorry, but some of us prefer it this way!

[a96agli]

I'm not sure changing the setting of Onegin would really make any sense - like Tosca and Le Nozze it's pretty well tied to certain place and period.

What I meant is that in the 1980s lots of productions had this same sort of frilly, lacy, gilded style about them (think of the Covent Garden Rosenkavalier or Fledermaus), that looks sort of cheap and busy to my eye now. I think a good period production would now be a lot simpler and more streamlined.

[drtmuir]

@a96agli You know, looking back at the poem, Onegin says at one point that he's only 26. So WTF?

[ponchodevane]

good god this is amazing!

[Pathtith]

I agree. Everything works better in the original language.

But Thomas Allen's is surely one of the most beautiful male voices ever...!

[Janek7473]

Allen is great, but arioso sang in english is... not good.

[schweitzer006325]

I absolutely love Sir Thomas...wonderfully talented baritone. In what year was this production made, by the way? Thanks for posting! =)

[RestlessRusalka]

Ottawa, 1983. :-)

[durbinrus]

Please, make a playlist of these wonderful clips!

[Bubble1210]

The conductor was Neeme Järvi, the father of Paavo Järvi and Kristjan Järvi, also both conductors. Directed by John Copley. I think it was Tom Allen's first Onegin. Thanks so much for posting these clips. Are there any more from this production?

[Zhmudenko]

It's wonderfull !!!!!!!!1

[misterpaulrussell]

Was just reading his auto-biog. thought I'd check if he was to be found on Youtube! Great man, fantastic baritone.

[ce429]

The wig's okay, it's the eye makeup that looks weird. Love him!! What a great clip!

[Canuckoperafan]

Thanks for posting this gem! Saw this in Ottawa, when the NAC was still doing opera. I've forgotten what an elaborate production it was. Can't remember the conductor - probably Mario Bernardi?

[iAMturandot]

hate the wig, love the man. what a wonderful artist! long live sir thomas! i'd also rather hear Onegin in Russian lol, but still a great clip, thank you!