Manon

ABOUT PERFORMANCE

At the end of the 19th century, French opera finds a synthesis between old and new insights and needs to interact with realism reflected in Flaubert's and Zola's novels, Coubert's paintings, Wagner's innovations in music and drama, and last but not least, Giacomo Meyerbeer's operas became central in French opera.

The theme—which inspired not only Giacomo Puccini but also Vítězslav Nezval, a Czech writer and poet—became the most popular French lyric opera in hands of Jules Massenet even earlier. Despite its occasional sentimentality, the music of his most famous opus is sophisticated, and due to the melodic inventiveness, the composer depicts the characteristics of each character. While French opera is fond of male characters at the beginning of the 19th century, the end is devoted to female protagonists. This is the intention that is reflected also in Manon. Massenet's inclination towards melodic singing was once called a celebration of a soprano.

Performed in French with Czech and English subtitles.

Premieres on 28 and 30 April 2022 at the Antonín Dvořák Theatre

CAST AND CREATIVE

Stage director: Jiří Nekvasil
Conductors: Bruno Ferrandis, Jiří Habart
Set designer: Daniel Dvořák
Costume designer: Simona Rybáková
Chorus master: Jurij Galatenko
Dramaturgy: Juraj Bajús
Photo by: Martin Popelář

Manon Lescaut: Soňa Godarská, Jana Sibera
Le Chevalier des Grieux: Luciano Mastro, Mickael Spadaccini
Lescaut, Manon's cousin: Aleš Jenis, Pavol Kubáň
Hrabě des Grieux, the Chevalie's father: Martin Gurbaľ, František Zahradníček
Guillot de Morfontaine: Václav Morys, Peter Svetlík
de Brétigny: Robin Červinek, Daniel Kfelíř
Poussette, an actress: Zuzana Ballánová
and next.