The premiere at the Opéra National de Lyon, directed by Ushio Amagatsu, was conducted by Kent Nagano, who had commissioned the work.

Péter Eötvös was commissioned by Kent Nagano to write an opera for the Opéra National de Lyon.

[4] The main figures are characterized by solo instruments: flute for Olga, oboe and also English horn for Irina, clarinet for Masha, bass clarinet for Kulygin, bassoon for Andrei, soprano saxophone for Natasha, French horn for Tuzenbach, flugelhorn and also trumpet for Vershinin, trombone for the doctor, percussion for Solyony, viola for the three sisters, and double bass for Anfisa.

[6] The singers of the premiere were Oleg Riabets (Irina), Vyacheslav Kagan-Paley (Masha), Alain Aubin (Olga), Albert Schagidullin (Andrei), Gary Boyce (Natasha), Nikita Storojev (Kulygin), Jan Alofs (Anfisa), Dietrich Henschel (Tuzenbach), Denis Sedov (Solyony), Wojciech Drabowicz (Vershinin), Peter Hall (Chebutykin), Ivan Matiakh (Rodé) and Marc Duguay (Fedotik).

[7] The production was called the most important new work of the year 1998 ("zum wichtigsten neuen Werk des Jahres 1998") by German opera critics.