Manon Lescaut: Deutsche Oper Berlin
About the Event
'Manon Lescaut' was Puccini's first major success as a composer of opera. Passionate feelings, strong contrasts, a wholly unsentimental perspective on flesh‐and‐blood characters, their weaknesses and their suffering at the hands of despotism and social repression – Puccini's opera creates a fascinating spectrum of colours and moods.
The young, attractive Manon, who deserts her lover Des Grieux without hesitation for a life with the wealthy but unloved Geronte, has a weakness for luxurious distractions to such an extent that she sacrifices her personal happiness, even her life, to her lust for pleasure. Even after her decision to return to Des Grieux she does not wish to relinquish her hold on the soporific security of material comfort. With the police, summoned by Geronte, on their way to the house, Manon might have managed to evade arrest and subsequent deportation had she not tarried to pack her jewellery.
Sung in Italian with German and English surtitles
Cast / Production
Manon Lescaut — Anja Harteros
Sergeant Lescaut — Thomas Lehman
Des Grieux — Martin Muehle
Geronte De Ravoir — Patrick Guetti
Edmondo — Andrei Danilov
landlord — Artur Garbas
ballet master — Burkhard Ulrich
musician — Maire Therese Carmack
sergeant — Padraic Rowan
lamp lighter — Ya‐Chung Huang
commandant — Michael Bachtadze
