British actor and director Ralph Fiennes will helm a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Opéra national de Paris in February 2026, one of several new productions announced today.
Fiennes is a longtime connoisseur of Pushkin’s novel, appearing in the title role in the film Onegin (1999), directed by his sister Martha.
“The figure of the melancholic man, disenchanted with the world, is often found in Russian literature,” Fiennes commented. “This condition of the human soul is absolutely timeless.”
Russian baritone Boris Pinkhasovich is slated to star in the title role, alongside Ruzan Mantashyan as Tatyana, Marvic Monreal as Olga, and Bogdan Volkov as Lensky. Music direction will initially be by Semyon Bychkov, thereafter by Case Scaglione, making his Palais Garnier debut.
Other new productions announced include Antonia Bembo’s Ercole amante in June 2026. Bembo, a gifted composer who fled marital abuse in Venice to live in exile in Paris, composed the opera in 1707. It was performed for the first time only in 2023, and has never received a full staging.
The Paris Opera has also announced the completion of Calixto Bieito's Ring staging: Walküre and Siegfried in November and January, then Götterdämmerung in 2026–7, with complete Ring cycle performances planned for that season.
New dance works from choreographers Christopher Wheeldon and David Dawson are also expected in the coming season.
Meanwhile, in London, Eugene Onegin is due to receive choreographic treatment in July 2026 in Akram Khan’s Carnage and the Divine for The Royal Ballet, who also announced their new season today. Other world premiere dance works this season are slated from Wayne McGregor, Cathy Marston, and choreographer duo Sol León and Paul Lightfoot.
Not to be outdone, London’s Royal Opera also announced its 2025–26 season today, including its own new production of Siegfried, directed by Barrie Kosky. The first season under the baton of music director Jakub Hrůša will also feature a new production of Janáček’s Makropulos Affair, alongside new stagings of Tosca, Ariodante and The Turn of the Screw, among others.