From Pushkin’s verse novel Eugene Onegin, a seminal work of 19^th-century Russian literature, John Cranko has created a ballet centred around five characters: the poet Lenski, sweet Olga’s fiancé; Tatiana, her older sister, in love with the dandy Onegin, who neglects her before realising, far too late, when she marries Prince Gremin, that he has wasted his life.

Although dwelling little on the social dimension of Pushkin’s work, the choreographer restores its fluidity and poetry in an impressively virtuoso neo-classical style.

First performed in 1965 to music by Tchaikovsky, this ballet entered the Paris Opera repertoire in 2009. From the two sisters’ country house to Prince Gremin’s ballroom, its acute psychological insight conveys youthful hopes and disillusionment, lost opportunities and biting remorse.