Two good things happened at the San Francisco Opera in the course of the opening performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” on Sunday, Sept. 25.
Evan LeRoy Johnson, a vibrantly fresh-toned tenor from Pine Island, Minn., made a terrific company debut, one that gave suggestions of further thrilling appearances yet to come. And at the end of the afternoon, the venerable Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto received the San Francisco Opera Medal, the company’s highest honor, commemorating more than 40 years of estimable appearances at the War Memorial Opera House.
The juxtaposition offered a quick glimpse in microcosm of the passage of time in the world of opera, as older artists, wrapped in glory in recognition of their achievements, pass the baton to younger ones full of promise. It was a touching connection to make, especially as the Opera embarks on its second century amid a rush of centennial celebrations.
Unfortunately, that almost entirely exhausts the good news out of Sunday’s opening. In most other respects, this “Onegin” turned out to be a drab, underwhelming affair — weakly cast, sluggishly conducted, and staged with a strangely barren disregard for the work’s tempestuous undercurrent of emotion.
The timing for this lapse was particularly awkward, not only because it fell during the company’s 100th season, but also because it marked the first foray into Russian opera in 14 years, ever since Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” in 2008. That’s a long time for such an important segment of the operatic repertoire to be absent.
Of course, the company leadership could not have known when planning the season that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would make the matter potentially problematic, but a handful of protesters in front of the Opera House, draped in Ukrainian flags, were there to remind them. “Popularizing Russian culture at this time is appalling and wrong,” read the leaflets being handed out to patrons. A company statement (at www.sfopera.com/onegin) condemns the invasion and affirms support for Ukraine.
Whatever the politics, though, it was hard to see Sunday’s performance weighing very strongly in the balance. In place of the urgency and emotional fervor that “Onegin” can deliver under the right circumstances, there was mostly dull posturing and underpowered singing.
Based on a novel by Alexander Pushkin, “Onegin” is a tale of love misplaced, or at least poorly timed. Tatyana, the sensitive, sheltered daughter of a provincial landowning family, conceives an instant passion for the title character, which he rejects in the haughtiest and most condescending manner he can muster. When they meet again some years later, it is Onegin’s turn to love in vain.
But if the plot as recounted that way seems reductive, the splendor of the opera is the tenderness and attentive grace with which Tchaikovsky tells the story. Tatyana’s passion, which she pours out in the famous Letter Scene, is conjured up in a tenacious melody that haunts the remainder of the score like a psychological pebble in one’s shoe. The tension between the characters’ inner lives and their public demeanors — the latter encapsulated by a series of vividly drawn dance episodes — is probed with the composer’s trademark insight.
Too little of that, though, came through in this account. The well-traveled physical production by director Robert Carsen, staged here for the first time by director Peter McClintock, sets the action in a strangely arid abyss surrounded by starkly empty spaces, abandoning the domestic element that is central to the piece.
In his company debut, the Greek conductor Vassilis Christopoulos drew handsomely colored playing from the Opera Orchestra, but in the dance sequences he rarely gave the performance any rhythmic vitality. Slow passages sagged and dragged; the Opera Chorus, directed by John Keene, often found itself unmoored.
Most disappointing were the debut appearances of the opera’s two principal singers. Canadian baritone Gordon Bintner gave a bland, small-toned performance, at times barely audible, in the title role. Russian soprano Evgenia Muraveva was no more prepossessing as Tatyana, delivering the Letter Scene in thin, disembodied melodic phrases and often fading into the woodwork in ensembles.
That left it up to Johnson, as Onegin’s poet friend Lensky, to carry the expressive weight of the drama, and he did it with consummate artistry. Especially in his great Act 2 aria, as Lensky awaits his pointless duel with Onegin, Johnson burst through the torpor of the surrounding activity with a combination of clarion tone and elegant phrasing.
He was superbly, if too briefly, matched by debuting mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina in a robust and dramatically vibrant turn as Olga, Tatyana’s sister and Lensky’s beloved. Mezzo-soprano Ronnita Miller sang splendidly as ever as the sisters’ nursemaid.
Finally, Furlanetto turned up at the end of the opera as Prince Gremin, Tatyana’s eventual husband, to conjure up memories of his long and fabled career. In San Francisco, it began with Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda” in 1979 and continued through more recent triumphs in Verdi’s “Attila” and Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte.”
If nothing else, we can hope that this “Onegin” has broken the dam on Russian opera in San Francisco and that other works may follow it in future seasons. And in the meantime we can look forward to Johnson’s speedy return.
“Eugene Onegin”: San Francisco Opera. Through Oct. 14. $26-$422. War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., S.F. 415-864-3330. www.sfopera.com. Available to live stream at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1. $27.50. www.sfopera.com/digital