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Thomas Hampson (Hadrian) and Isaiah Bell (Antinous) rehearsing a scene from Hadrian.

Spoiler Alert: This synopsis reveals key plot elements.

ACT I

The last night of Hadrian’s life. In Tibur, outside Rome.

Hadrian is gravely ill and grieving the death of his lover Antinous. After a year of preparations, Antinous’ body is to be entombed. Hadrian’s entourage feels Hadrian will die tonight, from either sickness or sadness.

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Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin, based on Pushkin’s verse novel of the same title, has come to represent Russian character and emotion at its most intense. When Michael Levine and I developed on our production for the Metropolitan Opera, we sought to find a poetic response to this most intensely subjective and emotive of operas.[READ MORE]