Russian literature is inconceivable without Pushkin. It draws its sustenance from Pushkin; it breathes Pushkin. During his brief 38-year life, he produced a torrent of some of the most wonderful poems, plays and stories. Pushkin wrote the short story The Queen of Spades in 1833, in the space of a few days and ‘in a cold fury’: a brief text, with strong accents and a focus on psychology. More than 50 years later, Tchaïkovski drew inspiration from this story to compose an opera. For the 2018 Salzburg Festival, Mariss Jansons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and Hans Neuenfels directs Tchaïkovski’s ‘The Queen of Spades’ at the Großes Festspielhaus. Hanna Schwarz plays the Countess. Evgenia Muraveva sings the role of Lisa, Brandon Jovanovich is Herman, Vladislav Sulimsky plays Count Tomsky / Plutus, and Igor Golovatenko is Prince Yelezky.