A pre-première sneak peek at Manon Lescaut

20 January 2025, 1:00
A pre-première sneak peek at Manon Lescaut

The production team and soloists will appear in a pre-première preview of the new production of Puccini's opera Manon Lescaut. The preview will take place at the Janáček Theatre and can also be watched online.

In this country, Manon is best known thanks to Vítězslav Nezval's poetic adaptation, but Puccini's opera is based on the original French novel by Abbé Antoine-François Prévost d'Exiles, published in Paris in 1731. Yet the whimsical Manon is a woman of all centuries and, having been the subject of literary and dramatic works, she is certainly a good choice for Brno National Theatre director Štěpán Pácl on his first journey into the world of opera. The preview will take place on 29 January 2025 at 6:00 p.m. at the Janáček Theatre, and you can also watch it online.

Love knows no boundaries. My guilt will fade into oblivion, but my love will not die... The beautiful Manon is no stranger to human weakness - she craves the love of the young knight Des Grieux as well as the life of luxury and wealth that only the old banker Géront can give her... Yet there is always a price to pay, and even love cannot save everything. "Manon is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the hearts of the public.  Why shouldn't there be two operas about Manon? A woman like Manon can have more than one lover. Massenet feels it as a Frenchman, with powder and minuets. I shall feel it as an Italian, with a desperate passion," Puccini declared with determination when his publisher tried to talk him out of composing an opera on a theme that had already been set to music. And he was right to ignore him, as Manon Lescaut has been one of his great successes since its first performance in Turin in 1893. He delivered what he promised, offering his audience passion, despair and hope that survives even the tragic end of the heroine. After all, love never dies. The première itself is scheduled for 7 February 2025 at the Janáček Theatre.

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