Stage director Olivier Py much-lauded production

“Preachers, you who want to restore me to virtue, tell me that virtue is absolutely necessary, but do not hide from me that it is also harsh and painful.”
A.-F. Prévost, L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (1732) (first part)

When Abbé Antoine-François Prévost wrote L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut in 1731, he little imagined it would provide inspiration for operatic composers. Yet for Auber, Massenet, Puccini and others it did. Jules Massenet's score portrays the French Regency period which saw the twilight of an old world unable to move forward and the apparent birth of a new world offering plentiful promises of freedom. Manon is a complex character, torn between the two. She avoids being sent to a convent and embarks on a life of lasciviousness and wrongdoing. Her personal leap into the void is her passionate but self-destructive love affair with Des Grieux, a brief but delightful parenthesis which comes to a tragic end.

Stage director Olivier Py, in his much-lauded production for the Grand Théâtre de Genève, eludes the historical trap of 18th-century libertinage to create associations with memorable but vulgar scenes in sordid, commonplace brothels. One of his images is unforgettable: that of Des Grieux finding Manon in a state of prostration but adorning herself with jewels which can do nothing to restore happiness or meaning to her life.

The opera Massenet drew from Prévost's novel was premiered at the Opéra-Comique in 1884. Touched by the entrancingly spontaneous music, the audience were able to overlook the protagonists' amoral and tortuous existence. Manon, who yearns above all for luxury and comfort, lapses into betrayal and prostitution and is sentenced to be deported to Louisiana. Her death in the arms of the powerless and remorseful Des Grieux carries a sobering message. From a misogynistic viewpoint, Manon's strength and ability to embody wrongdoing and moral ruin have made her a literary myth on a par with the likes of Cleopatra, Eve, Salome, Carmen or Lulu.

With the suport of:

Manon
Opéra comique in five acts
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille
World premiere: 19/1/1884 at the Opéra-Comique (Salle Favart) in Paris 
Barcelona premiere: 29/12/1894 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu 
Last Liceu performance: 9/7/2007 
Total number of Liceu performances: 145 

Cast Changes

• Tenor Michael Fabiano sings the part of chevalier Des Grieux replacing Javier Camarena, who will not make his role debut this season.

En record de Victoria de los Ángeles

Aquest any 2023 és el centenari del naixement d’una de les veus més estimades del Liceu, la soprano Victoria de los Ángeles. Volem commemorar l’efemèride dedicant les funcions de Manon de Massenet a la seva memòria. Victoria de los Ángeles va cantar el rol de Manon en quatre temporades diferents, el qual va ser el que va interpretar més vegades a l’escenari del Liceu i el seu darrer personatge escenificat durant les funcions del gener del 1967, que van sumar un total de 12 representacions memorables.