The National Ballet of Canada

Onegin Casting Announced

Guillaume Côté’s Final Onegin
Five Debuts in Roles of Onegin and Tatiana  

November 13, 2023… Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the casting for John Cranko’s Onegin, onstage November 22 – 26 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. 

As previously announced, Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté will dance the iconic title role in Onegin for the final time this November. Côté will dance opposite Principal Dancer Jurgita Dronina who makes her debut as Tatiana, one of the only roles in the classical repertoire she has yet to perform. Although he will say farewell to the role, Côté will not be retiring and will continue to perform other leading roles with the National Ballet. Côté and Dronina will perform on opening night with Principal Dancer Tina Pereira who makes her debut as Olga, Principal Dancer Harrison James as Lensky and Second Soloist Josh Hall who debuts as Prince Gremin. 

Making their debuts as Eugene Onegin are Principal Dancers Naoya Ebe and Christopher Gerty and Second Soloist Larkin Miller. Principal Dancers Koto Ishihara makes her debut as Tatiana and reprising the role of Tatiana are Principal Dancers Heather Ogden and Svetlana Lunkina.   

Principal Dancer Genevieve Penn Nabity, First Soloist Jeannine Haller, Second Soloist Tirion Law and Corps de Ballet member Emerson Dayton make their debuts as Olga. Debuting in the role of Lensky are Principal Dancer Siphesihle November and Corps de Ballet members Keaton Leier and Isaac Wright. First Soloist Donald Thom and Second Soloist Peng-Fei Jiang will debut as Prince Gremin. 

Created in 1965 and based on the 19th-century verse novel Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, John Cranko’s Onegin is one of the most affecting and powerful of all modern narrative ballets. Set to music by Tchaikovsky and gorgeous designs by Santo Loquasto, Onegin has been hailed as one of the greatest dance dramas in the ballet repertoire.    

The Emotional Arc of Onegin

Guillaume Côté on Onegin

Casting  

Eugene Onegin
Guillaume Côté (November 22, 24 at 7:30 pm)
Naoya Ebe* (November 23 at 2:00 pm/November 25 at 7:30 pm)
Christopher Gerty* (November 23 at 7:30 pm/November 26 at 2:00 pm)
Larkin Miller* (November 25 at 2:00 pm)

Tatiana
Jurgita Dronina* (November 22, 24 at 7:30 pm)
Koto Ishihara* (November 23 at 2:00 pm/November 25 at 7:30 pm)
Heather Ogden (November 23 at 7:30 pm/November 26 at 2:00 pm)
Svetlana Lunkina (November 25 at 2:00 pm)

Olga
Tina Pereira* (November 22, 24 at 7:30 pm)
Emerson Dayton* (November 23 at 2:00 pm/November 25 at 7:30 pm)
Genevieve Penn Nabity* (November 23 at 7:30 pm)
Tirion Law* (November 25 at 2:00 pm)
Jeannine Haller* (November 26 at 2:00 pm)

Lensky
Harrison James (November 22, 24 at 7:30 pm)
Keaton Leier* (November 23 at 2:00 pm/November 25 at 7:30 pm)
Isaac Wright* (November 23 at 7:30 pm/November 26 at 2:00 pm)
Siphesihle November* (November 25 at 2:00 pm)

Prince Gremin
Ben Rudisin (November 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 at 7:30 pm/23 at 2:00 pm)
Donald Thom* (November 25 at 2:00 pm)

Madame Larina
Stephanie Hutchison^# (November 22, 24, 25 at 7:30 pm/November 23 at 2:00 pm)
Alexandra MacDonald (November 23 at 7:30 pm/ November 25, 26 at 2:00 pm)

Nurse
Chelsy Meiss (November 22, 24, 25 at 7:30 pm/November 23 at 2:00 pm)
Stephanie Hutchison# (November 23 at 7:30 pm/ November 25, 26 at 2:00 pm)

* Debut
^# Guest Artist

About Onegin >  

All casting is subject to change. 

– 30 –

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.   

Harrison James is sponsored through Dancers First by Lucy White.       

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

Siphesihle November is sponsored through Dancers First by Jerry Lozinski, O.C. & Joan Lozinski, O.C.   

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

Genevieve Penn Nabity is sponsored through Dancers First by George & Kathy Dembroski.   

Tina Pereira is sponsored through Dancers First by The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C.   

Ben Rudisin is sponsored through Dancers First by Sylvie Allard & Brian O’Keefe.   

Jeannine Haller is sponsored through Dancers First by Devida & Derek Smith.  

Alexandra MacDonald is sponsored through Dancers First by an anonymous donor.    

Chelsy Meiss is sponsored through Dancers First by Anne-Marie Canning.  

Keaton Leier is sponsored through Dancers First by Donald & Suzanne Kopas. 
 
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 Karolina Kuras.

 For more information, please contact: