Eugene Onegin Program 2026

Eugene Onegin

West Australian Opera

A Northern Ireland Opera production that premiered in Belfast 14 September 2024

6 - 15 August 2026, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth

Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Librettists Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Konstantin Shilovsky

Conductor Christopher van Tuinen

Director Cameron Menzies

Set Designer & Video Director Niall Mckeever

Costume Designer Gillian Lennox

Lighting Designer Kevin Treacy

Video Designer Neil O’Driscoll

Movement Director Jennifer Rooney

Tatyana Samantha Clarke

Eugene Onegin Samuel Dundas

Lensky Paul O’Neill

Olga Ashlyn Tymms

Prince Gremin Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Madame Larina Brigitte Heuser

Filipyevna Nicole Youl

Monsieur Triquet TBC

Zaretski TBC

A Captain TBC

Peasant TBC

West Australian Opera Chorus

West Australian Symphony Orchestra

Production Manager Mandy Farmer

Stage Manager

Assistant Stage Managers

Head of Wardrobe

Wardrobe Assistants

Dressers

Wardrobe Maintenance

Head of Wigs

Head of Make Up

Head Mechanists

Senior Technicians

Surtitles

Photography: Neil Harrison, Northern Ireland Opera, Eugene Onegin (2024).

Warning:

West Australian Opera acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. Kalyakoorl, ngalak warangka (forever we sing).

THE HONOURABLE CHRIS DAWSON AC APM

Vice Regal Patron’s Message

I am proud to be the Vice-Regal Patron of West Australian Opera, the state opera company.

With its ongoing connection to the people of Western Australia, the commissioning and development of First Nations works, and commitment to education, West Australian Opera strives to enable people from all ages, regions and backgrounds to access the artform of opera.

In 2026 it is great to see many Western Australians featuring in roles on stage at His Majesty’s Theatre and in other performances throughout the State.

West Australian Opera continues to enrich the performing arts in the State.

CAROLYN CHARD AM

Executive Director’s Message

I encourage you to support your state opera company as we approach the milestone 60th year in 2027. West Australian Opera continues to enrich the performing arts in the State alongside the state orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra whom I acknowledge and thank as performance partner for opera seasons.

West Australian Opera is proud to present Eugene Onegin, in the beautiful His Majesty’s Theatre, on the lands of the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation. Kalyakoorl, ngalak warangka (forever we sing).

This is a Northern Ireland Opera production directed by Cameron Menzies, with Set Designer and Video Director Niall McKeever, Costume Designer Gillian Lennox, Lighting Designer Kevin Treacy, Video Designer Neil O’Driscoll, Movement Director Jennifer Rooney.

I am grateful to the creative team who designed the production and to the singers and musicians who have brought it all to life. Thank you to Conductor Chris van Tuinen with the West Australian Opera Chorus and West Australian Symphony Orchestra, to repetiteur Tommaso Pollio, to stage management, crew, and backstage teams.

Thank you to the cast Samantha Clarke (Tatyana) Samuel Dundas (Eugene Onegin), Paul O’Neill (Lensky), Ashlyn Tymms (Olga), Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Prince Gremin), Brigitte Heuser (Madame Larina), Nicole Youl (Filipyevna).

At West Australian Opera, our dream is to speak to the heart through the human voice and to unite people through the joy of music. The excitement of taking your seat for a performance, the anticipation of the curtain rising, and the drama that is set to unfold on stage make live performances such a special experience. We are proud to be your state opera company. Thank you for being here with us.

DARREN LEWSEN

Chair’s Message

West Australian Opera is grateful for the continued support of the Federal Government through Creative Australia, the WA Government and Lotterywest.

We appreciate and acknowledge the generosity of valued Principal Partner, Wesfarmers Arts. We thank major partners City of Perth, Lotterywest, Healthway, MM Electrical, Feilman Foundation and JCDecaux. We recognise the significant contribution of the Wesfarmers Arts Young Artists Program, together with the Bendat Scholarships and the Roberts Emerging Artists who support the developing talent in Western Australia. Thank you to all sponsors, partners, patrons, trusts, foundations, donors, and government funders.

On behalf of the Board and management and artists my appreciation goes to the opera family of supporters and audience members who continue to share the power of music.

Your support contributes to the artistic vibrancy of the State, and ensures that the legacy of West Australian Opera continues for future generations.

Thank you to all sponsors, partners, patrons, trusts, foundations, donors, and government funders.

Director’s Notes

English Synopsis

Tableau 1: We open in the garden of Madame Larina’s country estate. They are making preserves and she is being assisted by the family’s nursemaid Filipevna. In the distance Madame’s daughters Tatyana and Olga can be heard singing. The two older women listen and reminisce of their younger days and of younger loves. The serfs come in from the fields after a long day and they have been reaping the wheat, they come to present Madame Larina with a decorated sheaf, and they sing and dance for her. Tatyana hears their singing, and it reminds her of faraway places and her sister Olga only wants to dance around.

Tableau 2: In Tatyana’s bedroom we find her restless and unable to sleep. The nurse worries that the young lady is ill. She professes to the nurse that she is in fact totally in love with the young Onégin. The nurse promises to keep her secret and when she leaves, Tatyana starts to write how she feels into a letter for Onégin. Can she love anyone ever, other than Onégin… No! Her letter is complete, in the morning Filipevna comes in and she is given the letter to have delivered to Onégin.

Tableau 3: In another part of the Larina Garden, the girls gather berries as they sing. Tatyana eagerly awaits a reply from Onégin. He arrives and coldly delivers a serious blow… Onégin does not see Tatyana in any romantic way but loves her as a brother would. He has humiliated Tatyana, and they leave. The girls continue to sing as they make the jam.

Tableau 4: We are inside the Larina house at Tatyana’s Birthday Ball. Everyone is dancing and Onégin and Tatyana are waltzing all through the party as the older guests watch on and gossip. Onégin who is not popular with the guests makes no attempt to hide his boredom at such an event. He takes his boredom out on his best friend Lensky who had made Onégin attend the ball. Out of spite and Onégin flirtatiously steals Olga away at the party and they dance. Onégin goads Lensky about why he is not dancing which turns the situation into a nasty exchange where the two men threaten each other with a duel. Onégin regrets this foolish challenge, but it is too late, it is impossible to turn back and the two men are separated by the guests at the party.

Tableau 5: At the side of a riverbank, Lensky discusses the duel with his second Zaretsky. He then takes a private moment to remember his youth and the present horror in front of him. Onégin arrives at the duel and both men regret arriving at this moment. Lensky is shot and killed.

Tableau 6: St Petersburg, six years have passed. Onégin is present at a ball, he has spent his time travelling and trying to get over Lensky’s death. Prince Gremin and his wife Tatyana enter the ball. Her beauty enthrals everyone. Tatyana sees her husband talking with a man and asks who he is speaking with and Onégin is asking the prince who the enchanting lady is, he explains it is his wife of two years. Once Tatyana and Onégin are introduced to each other at the ball Tatyana excuses herself from the event which agitates Onégin greatly.

Tableau 7: In another room, Onégin has written a letter telling Tatyana of his great passion for her. He throws himself literally at Tatyana’ feet. She remembers the time he so cruelly rejected her and wonders if her new position in the world has made her more attractive to him. Onégin protests this and finally realises in his pleas that she cannot restrain her true love for him. They imagine what their lives might have been like and Onégin urges her to run away with him and find true happiness and true love. Tatyana refuses, she will be true to her marriage vows and heartbroken she leaves. Onégin is left alone with his grief and despair.

Russian Synopsis

Biographies

CONDUCTOR

Christopher van Tuinen

Christopher graduated with a B.Mus from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2001. In 2005 he completed a Masters in Conducting at the VCA.

He also holds a B.A. from the University of Queensland, an LLB from Q.U.T. and an A.Mus.A from the AMEB. He has been nominated by the Musical Theatre Guild and Green Room Awards in the ‘Best Conductor’ category.

During 2008 and 2009 he was a member of the Young Artists Program with Opera Australia. In 2007 Chris was appointed as the inaugural Conducting Fellowship at the Australian Ballet. He has worked with the WASO, Orchestra Victoria, AOBO and the QSO. Previous roles include Perth Festival, WASO, Musica Viva and Lost and Found Opera.

Previous opera credits include, Rusalka, Dido & Aeneas, Otello, La bohème, La traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, Cav/Pag, Cosi fan Tutte, Iolanta, Elijah, Madama Butterfly, Hansel und Gretel, Don Procopio, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Medeé, La voix Humaine amongst others. He has recorded and been broadcast by the ABC.

Chris is currently the Artistic Director of West Australian Opera.

Cameron Menzies DIRECTOR

Award Winning Director Cameron Menzies is CEO and Artistic Director of Northern Ireland Opera. He has directed opera, theatre, music-theatre, cabaret and film. He has worked for Shakespeare’s Globe, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Diva Opera UK, Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Short Black Opera Company, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. A Helpmann and Green Room Award nominee. His film Old Friends and Other Days won the 2022 Paris Short Film Festival for Best Production/ Costume Design, Best Short Narrative and Best “First Time” Director, the film also won the Best Short Feature for the London International Short Film Festival 21 and a Madrid Art Film award. Cameron’s most recent credits are the acclaimed production of La Traviata in the Grand Opera House Belfast and The Salon Series touring across Northern Ireland over 36 dates. Into the Woods has just been nominated for three Irish Times, Theatre awards for Best Director, Best Production and Best Set.

Jennifer Rooney trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. She has worked throughout the UK and Ireland for over twenty years and is currently the resident movement director on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (London).

Choreography credits - TV and Film: Derry Girls (series 2 and 3), World on Fire (series 2), Old Friends and Other Days (Northern Ireland Opera)

Theatre: Piaf (Gate Dublin), Into the Woods, Kiss Me Kate and Die Fledermaus (Northern Ireland Opera), A Christmas Carol (The MAC),The Elves and the Shoemaker (Cahoots NI, The MAC), Good Vibrations (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Turnabout (Maiden Voyage Dance)

Direction: The Devil Made Me Do It (NI Opera), Flight (BBC, One Dance Uk), Lark (Northern Ireland Screen). Associate movement Director: Truth (Helen Chadwick Company, UK Tour), Once (The Olympia Theatre, Dublin and Charlotte Theatre, Seoul, South Korea)

Resident Movement Director: Once (Phoenix Theatre, London)

Jennifer Rooney Niall McKeever MOVEMENT DIRECTOR SET DESIGNER

Niall is an Irish designer based in London. In 2018 he was awarded the 1 year full time design residency at the National Theatre where he was Associate Set and Costume Designer on Translations. He recently designed the JMK Award winning production of Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act directed by Diane Page and has recently been nominated for an Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for Best Set Design for Into The Woods.

Upcoming productions: The Dry House (Marylebone Theatre); Under The Kundè Tree (Southwark Playhouse); Tosca (Northern Ireland Opera/Grand Opera House)

Recent productions: La Traviata (Northern Ireland Opera/Grand Opera House); Yellowman (Orange Tree Theatre); Werther (Lyric Opera Ireland); Into The Woods (Northern Ireland Opera); Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (Orange Tree Theatre); This Beautiful Future (Jermyn Street Theatre)

Television/Film: Game of Thrones season V – VII (HBO); In The Earth, In Fabric, (Rook Films); LOVE, (Cuba Pictures); Dungarees, (BBC/BFI); Trigger.Charlie.One, (Atomium Films)

COSTUME DESIGNER

Gillian Lennox Kevin Treacy

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Kevin is an international lighting designer in opera, theatre and dance.

Opera credits include: Aida (Opera Orchestre National Montpellier at Opera Berlioz, Montpelier); La Traviata, La Bohéme, The Flying Dutchman, Tosca, Agrippina, Salome (Northern Ireland Opera); L’Elisir d’Amore (Norwegian National Opera); Carmen, La Bohéme (Nevill Holt Opera); The Turn of The Screw (Kolobov Novaya, Moscow); Macbeth (Welsh National Opera); Die Fledermaus (Wermland Opera, Sweden); Cunning Little Vixen, The Magic Flute (Royal Academy of Music); Albert Herring, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Grange Festival); L’Enfant et Les Sortiléges, Orango (Philharmonia Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall); Faramondo (Handel Festspiele, Göttingen).

Theatre credits include – The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Chichester Festival Theatre & Lyric Hammersmith); The Seafarer (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Killology (Royal Court); The Government Inspector, Come on Home (Abbey Theatre); The Cherry Orchard, The Weir, The Wind in the Willows (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff); Macbeth, Blithe Spirit (Perth Theatre, Scotland); The Shawshank Redemption (West End); Unfaithful (Traverse Theatre); A Doll’s House, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Lyric Hammersmith).

Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke is the winner of the 2019 Guildhall Gold Medal and prize winner in the 2019 Grange International Festival Singing Competition. Samantha studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, as a Sir John Fisher Foundation and Independent Opera Scholar, under the tutelage of Mary Plazas.

She is a recent graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Opera School as a Baroness de Turckheim Scholar, Help Musicians, Tait Memorial and Countess of Munster Trust Scholar and studied with Yvonne Kenny.

Recent and future engagements include her Proms debut in Mozart Requiem, Messiah and War Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in Tasmania, Adina L’elisir d’amore at West Green House Opera, Golden Cockerel at the Adelaide Festival, Marzelline Fidelio and Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young, Flower Maiden Parsifal at Opera North, Tytania Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Grange Festival, Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte at Grange Festival.

EUGENE ONEGIN

Samuel Dundas, formerly a member of Victorian Opera’s Artist Development Program and subsequently Opera Australia’s Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist Program, now performs leading roles with Opera Australia, the Australian state opera companies, New Zealand Opera and appears with all the major Australian symphony orchestras and choral societies.

2023 engagements include the title role in the world premiere of Richard Mills’ new opera Galileo for Perth Festival and Victorian Opera; Wolfram (Tannhäuser) for Opera Australia; the Count (Capriccio) for Victorian Opera and ANAM, and Donner (Das Rheingold) with Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He will also be heard in Beethoven’s 9th symphony with Auckland Philharmonia, Faure’s Requiem with the Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle for Festival of Voices and Haydn’s Missa Cellensis with the Allegri Ensemble, Hobart.

Most recently Samuel has performed the title role (Voss) for State Opera, Marcello for Opera Australia, Mozart’s Requiem for Tasmanian Symphony, Carmina Burana for Adelaide Symphony and Ebenezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol) for Victorian Opera.

Samuel Dundas Paul O’Neill

Australian tenor Paul O’Neill has forged a compelling international career singing in opera houses and concert halls throughout Europe and Australasia.

Most recently, he sang Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) and Alfredo (La traviata) for Opera Australia, Macduff (Macbeth) for State Opera South Australia and The Prince (Rusalka), Don José (Carmen), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Alfredo, Rodolfo (La bohème), Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana) Canio (Pagliacci) and Otello for West Australian Opera.

He was tenor soloist in Britten’s War Requiem and Siegmund in Die Walküre for West Australian Symphony Orchestra and appeared with the Melbourne and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras. In 2025, he sings Pinkerton and Manrico Il trovatore) for West Australian Opera, Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) for WASO and returns to Opera Australia in Verdi Gala concerts.

Paul has also sung Don José at the Glyndebourne Festival, Laca (Jenůfa) for Opéra de Lille, the title role in Faust at Theater Hagen and the Mainz State Theatre and Radamès (Aida) at the St Margarethen Opera Festival.

Ashlyn Tymms OLGA

In 2024, Ashlyn Tymms will sing Jezibaba in Rusalka and Dido in Dido and Aeneas for West Australian Opera and Fanny Price in Mansfield Park for New Zealand Opera; she takes the alto solos in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for West Australian Symphony. She also sings the Beethoven with the Queensland Symphony and Bach’s St. John Passion with the Melbourne Symphony.

For West Australian Opera, Ashlyn has sung the title role in Carmen, Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Emilia (Otello) and Flora (La traviata). She made her Sydney Opera House début in Handel’s Messiah.

Overseas, Ashlyn has sung Rosimonda in Handel’s Faramondo at the London Handel Festival, Judith in the world premiere of The Two Sisters with Tête à Tête Opera, La marchande de journaux in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Euridice in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and the title role in Dido and Aeneas.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Teddy Tahu Rhodes has performed with the opera companies of San Francisco, Austin, Washington, Philadelphia, Dallas, Cincinnati, Houston, the Metropolitan Opera, Hamburg Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper - Munich, Theatre du Châtelet - Paris, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera.

Past seasons include Escamillo (Hamburg, Paris, Munich, Bilbao, Metropolitan Opera, OA), Don Giovanni (OA, WA Opera), Emille de Bec - South Pacific (OA Australian Tour) and The King and I (OA Australian Tour). Teddy debuted the roles of Méphistophélès - Faust (SOSA and WA Opera) and Sweeney Todd (Victorian Opera), a concert tour From Broadway to La Scala (Australia, and NZ) and Scarpia - Tosca (WA Opera, Opera NZ). More recently Teddy has performed William Tell and I Capuleti ei Montecchi (Victorian Opera), Titurel (Parsifal, Victorian Opera), Lord Sidney (Il Viaggio a Reims, OA) and Enrico VIII (Anna Bolena, OA).

In 2021 Teddy has performed Theseus (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Adelaide Festival), Nourabad (Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Victorian Opera and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra), and Festival of Outback Opera (Opera Qld).

Awards include an ARIA, two Helpmann Awards, a Limelight Award, a Green Room Award plus an MO Award. Solo discography includes ABC Mozart Arias, The Voice, Vagabond, The Bach Arias, and Mozart Requiem.

MADAME LARINA

New Zealand born mezzo-soprano Brigitte Heuser began her vocal studies at the New Zealand School of Music (BMus, Hons) and furthered her operatic training at the Australian Opera Studio before gaining a Master of Arts in Performance Voice at the Wales International Academy of Voice.

Brigitte has performed opera, concert, and cabaret across Europe and Australasia. She has been a soloist for New Zealand Opera, Auckland Philharmonia, Opernloft Hamburg, the International Foundation for Arts and Culture in Japan, Australian Baroque and at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Brigitte is now a principal artist for West Australian Opera, where highlights includeRosina in The Barber of Seville, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana and Mercédès in Carmen.

Other operatic roles include Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Annio, La Clemenza di Tito, Idamante in Idomeneo, Flora in La Traviata, Jenny Diver in Threepenny Opera, Stepmother in Into the Woods, Olga in Eugene Onegin, Martha in Iolanta and Zita in Gianni Schicchi.

FILIPYEVNA

Brigitte Heuser Nicole

Nicole Youl made her mark as a soprano in the works of Puccini and Verdi, performing the title role in Madama Butterfly (Opera Australia), Mimi in La bohème (Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, Paiz Festival in Guatemala), title role in Tosca (Opera Australia, Victorian State Opera), Liu in Turandot (Opera Australia), Giorgetta in Il tabarro, the title role in Suor Angelica and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (Opera Australia), Leonora in Il trovatore (West Australian Opera, Opera Australia) and Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (Opera Australia). Other roles include Elsa in Lohengrin (Opera Australia), Leonore in Fidelio (OA/State Opera South Australia), Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana (Opera Australia, West Australian Opera), Micaela in Carmen (Opera Australia, Opera Queensland and West Australian Opera), Diane in Iphigenie en Tauride (Opera Australia), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Victorian State Opera), First Lady in The Magic Flute (Opera Australia), Grimgerde (Die Walküre) and Die Vertraute and Die Vierte Mägd in Elektra (Teatro dell’ opera di Roma).

Nicole has recently sung the mezzo soprano roles of Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana (West Australian Opera) and Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica (Freeze Frame Opera). Nicole currently teaches classical voice at WAAPA.

Your words evoke my deep respect for your emotion, your trusting soul and sweet devotion.

West Australian Opera

* Celebrating over 10 years

** Celebrating over 20 years

*** Celebrating over 30 years

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Nicola Forrest AO

The generous gift of FMG shares supports a strong and vibrant arts sector in Western Australia.

Bel Canto Fund

Thanks to the leadership donors of the Bel Canto Fund.

Bequest Circle

Cassandra Charlick & Stepan Libricky

Anita & James Clayton

Lorraine Ellard

Shane Pavlinovich

Ailsa West

Anonymous (5)

Estates

The Estate of Wendy Scanlon

The Estate of Clive Wannell

The Estate of Joyce E Young

The Estate of Noreen Riordan

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

MAJOR PARTNERS

CIVIC PARTNERS

OPERA PARTNERS

WESFARMERS ARTS & WEST AUSTRALIAN OPERA

Giving voice to the stories that move us.

Through our long-term support for West Australian Opera’s world-class productions, new commissions and the Wesfarmers Arts Young Artist program, we are proud to help bring the joy of opera to everyone in Western Australia.