Name: Manon Lescaut
Start: 2016-11-22T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2016-12-12T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Royal Opera House

Organization

Soprano

Sondra Radvanovsky

Manon Lescaut

Tenor

Aleksandrs Antonenko

The knight René Des Grieux

Massimo Giordano

Baritone

Levente Molnár

Lescaut

Bass

Eric Halfvarson

Geronte de Revoir

Luis Gomes

Edmond

Mezzo-soprano

Emily Edmonds

A singer

Aled Hall

The dance master

David Junghoon Kim

A lamplighter

David Shipley

Sergeant of the Archers

Bass-baritone

Nicholas Crawley

The naval captain

Conductor

Conductor (+1)

Antonio Pappano

Stage director

Jonathan Kent

Set designer

Set designer (+1)

Paul Brown

Royal Ballet and Opera

Assistant Stage Director

Stage director (+2)

Pedro Ribeiro

Royal Opera House

Italian

London

United Kingdom

Opera

English

Approved

Jonas Kaufmann as Des Grieux sings 'Donna non vidi mai' from Act I of Jonathan Kent's production of Giacomo Puccini's Manon Lescaut, The Royal Opera, 2014. Find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk/manonlescaut


Puccini’s publisher tried to prevent him from adapting Abbé Prévost’s L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut – Massenet had already created a highly successful opera based on the novel. But Puccini was not to be dissuaded, claiming ‘a woman like Manon can have more than one lover’. Despite a troubled gestation (five librettists were engaged in the project), the premiere of Manon Lescaut in 1893 was Puccini’s first major triumph – a hit with critics and the public alike.

Puccini’s sumptuous, richly-coloured score is characterized by youthful vitality and filled with glorious melodies. Des Grieux expresses his passion for Manon in the Act I aria ‘Vedete? io son fedele’, lively dances evoke Manon’s luxurious life in Paris in Act II, while in the impassioned finale to Act III, ‘Pazza son!’, Des Grieux begs to be allowed to join the imprisoned Manon on her voyage to America. The opera culminates in Manon’s heartbreaking Act IV aria ‘Sola, perduta, abbandonata’, as she contemplates her impending death. Jonathan Kent's controversial new production for The Royal Opera, with a star-studded cast including Jonas Kaufmann as Des Grieux and Kristine Opolais as Manon, was The Royal Opera's first production in more than thirty years.

Visit our People Page for more about Jonas Kaufmann: http://www.roh.org.uk/people/jonas-ka...

https://youtu.be/esoABheVgcA

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew