It is astonishing to me that this production is 20 years old, as it is timeless. Minimal, with great use of curtains and strategically placed sheaves of wheat, it places the emphasis firmly on the performers. The costumes are particularly beautiful and receive due emphasis thanks to the lack of scenery. I am not the kind of person who usually notices lighting particularly, but the lighting in this production was beautiful and cast emphasis precisely.

The other way in which this production is very successful is that it puts the emphasis on the performers’ singing (and dancing). And what singing it was. Beautiful throughout, with Ekaterina Scherbachenko a soulful, well-acted Tatyana, Ekaterina Sergeeva a petulant Olga and Diana Montague and Irina Tchistjakova well cast as Madame Larina and Filipyevna.

But for me, the night belonged to the men. Andrei Bondarenko was a stirring Onegin. It’s an extremely difficult character to play, as I find it difficult to muster any sympathy for Onegin whatsoever. Perhaps it would be different if I could read Russian, but in English both the book and the opera leave me with no feeling for him whatsoever. However, Bondarenko’s singing was very beautiful, with an open, glittering tone, and his acting excellent.

The two performances I enjoyed most were Edgaras Montvidas as Lensky and Taras Shtonda as Prince Gremin. Montvidas is Latvian and Shtonda Ukrainian, so it stands to reason that their Russian would be excellent. I found Montvidas’s Lensky heartbreaking, and his final aria before the duel astonishing in its clarity and beauty. Shtonda, as well, had a deep richness of tone that made his Prince Gremin a dignified, eloquent figure.

The ballet dancers in the Polonaise came as a surprise to me, and a delightful one. It set the tone admirably for what followed. What this production does so well is emphasise the economy with which Tchaikovsky tells the story. Each act is perfectly self-contained, and there is quite literally never a dull moment. The music is rich and the plot relentless. It is a wonderful opera, and this production shows it to its best advantage.

The audience was generally knowledgeable and very appreciative of the quality of the performances. However, there was a woman three or four rows behind me who whispered throughout. It was not too annoying where we were, but if I had been a couple of rows further back I suspect I would have said something. Given that the usual crowd at Glyndebourne does not generally hold back from pointing out bad behaviour, I am rather surprised that no one did. However, it did not detract from what was an absolutely stunning evening.

As a postscript, I don’t go to Glyndebourne every week. I have compressed my visits into the period of time before and after the World Cup, because during that time my partner will be entirely devoted to the football. He enjoys his Glyndebourne visits, but for him the ruling passion comes first.