Eugene Onegin (Russian: Евге́ний Оне́гин, BGN/PCGN: Yevgeniy Onegin) is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin.

It is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes (so-called superfluous men). It was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832. The first complete edition was published in 1833, and the currently accepted version is based on the 1837 publication.

Almost the entire work is made up of 389 stanzas of iambic tetrameter with the unusual rhyme scheme "AbAbCCddEffEgg", where the uppercase letters represent feminine rhymes while the lowercase letters represent masculine rhymes. This form has come to be known as the "Onegin stanza" or the "Pushkin sonnet."

The rhythm, innovative rhyme scheme, the natural tone and diction, and the economical transparency of presentation all demonstrate the virtuosity which has been instrumental in proclaiming Pushkin as the undisputed master of Russian poetry.

The story is told by a narrator (a lightly fictionalized version of Pushkin's public image), whose tone is educated, worldly, and intimate. The narrator digresses at times, usually to expand on aspects of this social and intellectual world. This allows for a development of the characters and emphasises the drama of the plot despite its relative simplicity.

Anna Yuryevna Netrebko (Russian: Анна Юрьевна Нетребко, born 18 September 1971) is a Russian operatic soprano. She now holds dual Russian and Austrian citizenship and currently resides in Vienna. She has been nicknamed "La Bellissima" by fans.

Netrebko was born in Krasnodar (Russia), in a family of Kuban Cossack background. While a student at the Saint Petersburg conservatoire, Netrebko worked as a janitor at Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre. Later, she auditioned for the Mariinsky Theatre, where conductor Valery Gergiev recognized her from her prior work in the theater. He subsequently became her vocal mentor. Under Gergiev's guidance, Netrebko made her operatic stage debut at the Mariinsky at age 22, as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. She went on to sing many prominent roles with the Kirov Opera, including Amina in La sonnambula, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor.

In 1994, she sang the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with the Riga Independent Opera Avangarda Akadēmija under conductor David Milnes.

Mariusz Kwiecień (born November 4, 1972 in Kraków, Poland) is an operatic baritone who has sung leading roles in the major opera houses of Europe and North America. He has received particular distinction in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni which he has sung at the Vienna State Opera, Bilbao Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera,Santa Fe Opera,Warsaw Opera, Royal Opera House, London, and Seattle Opera where he won the company's 2006-2007 Artist of the Year award for his performance in the role.

Kwiecień studied at the Warsaw Academy and began his professional career as Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Kraków Opera in 1993. In 1995 he sang the title role in The Marriage of Figaro in Luxembourg and Poznań, and made his Warsaw Opera debut the following year as Stanisław in Moniuszko's rarely performed Verbum Nobile. Debuts in major European and American opera houses soon followed.

A former student of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, he made his Met debut in 1999 as Kuligin in Janáček's Káťa Kabanová. By 2003 he was singing leading baritone roles there including Marcello in La bohème (2003), Silvio in Pagliacci (2004), Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro (2005), Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (2005), Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale (2006), and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor (2007).

Vladimir Andreyevich Atlantov (born 19 February 1939) is a Russian operatic tenor.

Born in Leningrad, Atlantov is the son of bass Andrey Petrovich (1906–1971) who sang in both the Kirov and Maly opera theaters of Leningrad. His mother, Maria Aleksandrovna Yelizarova, wasca lyric soprano who performed in the same opera theaters, taught, and later was a vocal consultant in the Kirov theater. She had been awarded the title of the Honored Artist of the RSFSR. His wife Tamara Andreyevna Milashkina (b. 1934) a soprano, is also an opera singer. She had been awarded the title the People's Artist of the USSR as well as the State Award of the Russian SSR. They have a daughter Lada (b. 1963)

Atlantov grew up in the wings of the opera theater. At the age of 6 he joined the Glinka choir school and in 1957 he was accepted in the Leningrad Conservatory. In 1962, while still a student, he was hired as an intern in the Kirov theater. The same year he was awarded the silver medal at the Glinka vocal competition and was allowed to go to Milan, Italy to practice in La Scala. Together with other Russian singers he studied with E. Barra and E Piazza. In two years at La Scala Atlantov learned the parts of the Duke in Rigoletto, Rodolfo in La boheme, Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, and Cavaradossi in Tosca.

Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich (September 26, 1930 – September 17, 1966) was a German lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Mozart repertory and Italian and German opera and lieder. He died in an accident when he was only 35. In a survey published in the BBC Music Magazine of April 2008, Wunderlich was voted the fourth greatest tenor of all time.

Fritz Wunderlich was born in Kusel in the Palatinate. His mother was a violinist and his father was a choir-master. For a short time, the family kept the inn "Emrichs Bräustübl". Fritz's father lost his job due to pressure imposed upon him by local Nazis, in addition to suffering from a severe battlefield injury. He committed suicide when Fritz was five years old.

The story regarding Wunderlich's discovery parallels many of his contemporaries (notably Nicolai Gedda and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau). As a young man Wunderlich worked in a bakery. At the insistence of neighbors and passers-by who had witnessed his musical gifts and beautiful voice, Wunderlich decided to begin studies in music. He managed to obtain a scholarship in order to pursue his studies at the Freiburg Music Academy where he studied French horn and voice.