“Manon Lescaut” Opens Bucharest Opera’s 2024-2025 Puccini Season

The premiere of “Manon Lescaut” by Puccini – a co-production between the Bucharest National Opera, Fondazione Festival Pucciniano, Fondazione Lirico Sinfonica Petruzzelli e Teatri di Bari and Teatro Regio di Parma – will be able to be seen in Bucharest on Saturday, September 28, and Sunday, September 29, at 18:30, – direction, scenography and lights Massimo Gasparon, choreography Gheorghe Iancu, conductor Tiberiu Soare, choir master Adrian Ionescu, assistant director Paula Stoica.

In the premiere evenings, internationally renowned guests such as Alessandra di Giorgio, Andeka Gorrotxategi, Nicola Farnesi, as well as the Romanian mezzo-soprano Adelina Cociobanu will perform on the stage of the Opera, together with established voices of the Bucharest Opera: Iulia Isaev, Daniel Magdal, Vicentiu Țăranu, Marius Boloș, Leonard Bernad, Liviu Indricău, Andrei Petre, Vasile Chișiu, Mihaela Ișpan, Daniel Filipescu, Andrei Lazar, Filip Panait, Damian Vlad. The musical preparation of the cast is carried out by Luminița Berariu, Liana Mareș and Mihaela Vîlcea.

The title is meant to further mark the Puccini Centenary in Romania by crowning the many events carried out by ONB in ​​this context, the largest being the Bucharest Opera Festival – All Puccini Edition.

Manon Lescaut portrays the destiny of a woman torn between the search for pure love and the thirst for wealth. Falling in love with Des Grieux, Manon runs away with him to Paris, but gives up true love for the promises of a carefree future with a rich man. But in the end, she realizes that true love is priceless, and the attempt to return to Des Grieux pushes her to a tragic end.

The story ends dramatically, with the two lovers condemned to exile, Manon dying in Des Grieux’s arms in the wastes of America. Several people close to him tried to dissuade him from using this subject, not only because of his personal closeness to him, but also given the enormous success of the opera “Manon” by Jules Massenet. However, fortunately, Puccini did not allow himself to be persuaded to give up, and thus was born his first national success, which soon conquered stages around the world.