The National Ballet of Canada

Guillaume Côté Dances His Final Onegin

Five Debuts in Lead Roles

November 7, 2023… Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the artists who will dance the lead roles of Eugene Onegin and Tatiana in John Cranko’s acclaimed dance drama Onegin, onstage November 22 – 26 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.  

Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté will dance the title role for the final time. Making their debuts as Eugene Onegin this fall are Principal Dancers Naoya Ebe and Christopher Gerty and Second Soloist Larkin Miller. Principal Dancers Jurgita Dronina and Koto Ishihara make their debuts as Tatiana. Reprising the role of Tatiana are Principal Dancers Heather Ogden and Svetlana Lunkina.  

The opening night cast on November 22 will feature Côté in the title role opposite Dronina as Tatiana. 

The role of Eugene Onegin has long been a favourite of Côté’s, with the emotional arc of the character and breathtaking pas de deux perfectly suited to his acclaimed dramatic skills and partnering ability. Dancing the role for the final time will be a bittersweet moment for one of Canada’s most accomplished dance artists. Côté will continue to perform other roles with the company and is not retiring from the National Ballet.  

In his 1965 three-act ballet Onegin, based on the 19th-century verse novel Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, the illustrious South African choreographer John Cranko created one of the most affecting and powerful of all modern narrative ballets. Set to music by Tchaikovsky, Onegin has been hailed as one of the greatest dance dramas in the ballet repertoire.    

About Onegin > 

Onegin and Tatiana 
Guillaume Côté and Jurgita Dronina
Christopher Gerty and Heather Ogden
Naoya Ebe and Koto Ishihara 
Larkin Miller and Svetlana Lunkina

Full casting and performance dates will be announced shortly. 

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Onegin is generously supported by an anonymous friend of the National Ballet 

Naoya Ebe is sponsored through Dancers First by Gretchen Ross.   

Christopher Gerty is sponsored through Dancers First by Ms. Nancy Viner & Dr. Raymond Stein.    

Svetlana Lunkina is sponsored through Dancers First by Anna McCowan-Johnson & Donald K. Johnson, O.C.    

Heather Ogden is sponsored through Dancers First by Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky Gluskin.

The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Ontario Arts Council; the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council; the Government of Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage, through The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage; and the Government of Ontario through The Honourable Neil Lumsden, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.  

Guillaume Côté in Onegin. Photo by Aleksandar Antonijevic.

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