An opera where love is a gamble and madness cashes the check.
The dark world of Tchaikovsky’s penultimate operatic masterpiece Queen of Spades hinges on obsession, greed, and a secret in winning at cards… In 2005, the Opéra Bastille mounted a compelling production featuring Vladimir Galouzine as the mad lover Hermann, Hasmik Papian as the doomed Lisa, and Irina Bogatcheva as the mysterious Comtesse.
Direction
Stefan Herheim's staging blurs reality and Hermann's unraveling mind.
Acting
Antonenko's Hermann: desperate, unhinged, impossible to look away from.
Production
ROH sets that swallow characters whole.
Director
Stefan Herheim
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tchaikovsky rushed this opera in 44 days, terrified Pushkin's story would be adapted by a rival.
The 'three card secret' became a Russian cultural touchstone, referenced in everything from Dostoevsky to Soviet propaganda.
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