Soprano Galina Vishnevskaya has denounced a new Bolshoi production of Yevgeny Onegin. “To the end of my days I will not escape my shame at participating in that public desecration of our sacred national treasure,” she told the Bolshoi’s management in a letter. Ms Vishnevskaya’s spokesman confirmed she had called off plans for an 80th birthday party at the Bolshoi in protest at the opera’s “completely deformed” main characters.