A pretty iron bedstead, a pair of guns, a handful of chairs and some chandeliers were the only props used for an opera that usually calls for an extravaganza, not least for the final act's St Petersburg ball. But the Opera Project's small-scale productions are approached with an open mind, characters and relationships thrust into the foreground, the action unfolding on a circular wooden dais. Watching up close, it was possible to feel the hope and pain of love in all its rawness. The singers' every note made you marvel anew at Tchaikovsky's score, even if you left the theatre reeling from the experience.

It was all realised with the highest musical values; conductor Jonathan Lyness has assembled a remarkably strong cast, with Lee Bisset as Tatyana. Bisset's voice has a rich, velvety sound throughout its range and seems so effortlessly supple. Perhaps it is a little too mature for the early acts, but she nevertheless captured the girlish, gauche intensity of the young woman who has learned about romance from novels, and her explosion of passion was entirely credible as she first admitted her love for Onegin. Catherine King's eloquently sung Filipevna, the nanny in whom Tatyana confides, revealed the understanding the old nurse has for her charge, strengthening the emotional tenor of the letter scene.

In the title role, Grant Doyle's baritone was dark, though not quite lyrical enough for Tchaikovsky, but he had the allure and hauteur of Onegin, and conveyed the desperate realisation, too late, of his love for Tatyana, with Bisset now at her expressive peak. This was strong stuff, with Stephanie Lewis as Olga, and Michael Bracegirdle's Lensky also vividly portrayed under Richard Studer's direction.

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