
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Alexander Tchaikovsky

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Georges Bizet

Giacomo Puccini

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Mieczysław Weinberg

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Giacomo Puccini

Giuseppe Verdi

Giacomo Puccini

Sergei Banevich

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Francesco Cilea

Sergei Prokofiev

Modest Mussorgsky

Dmitry Shostakovich

Richard Wagner
Camille Saint-Saëns

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Gaetano Donizetti

Benjamin Britten. Camille Saint-Saëns

Georg Philipp Telemann

Hector Berlioz

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Jacques Offenbach

Sergei Prokofiev. Maurice Ravel

Tatiana Kamysheva

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
César Cui. Igor Stravinsky

Richard Strauss

Gioachino Rossini

Dmitri Shostakovich

Gioacchino Rossini
Alexander Ostrovsky, music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Giuseppe Verdi

Anton Rubinstein

Richard Strauss

Grigory Frid. Udo Zimmermann

Benjamin Britten

Georges Bizet

Dimitry Rostovsky

Modest Mussorgsky

Umberto Giordano

Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Andrei Rubtsov

Giuseppe Verdi

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Alexei Verstovsky

Dmitry Shostakovich

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The world premiere of G. Puccini’s Manon Lescaut happened at the Teatro Regio in Turin on the 1st of February 1893. It was the composer’s triumph: according to the feedback from contemporaries, “the whole of Italy was driven mad in its admiration for this opera”. No less important was the London premiere that took place the following year on the stage of Covent Garden. George Bernard Shaw, known not only for his plays but also his exceptionally engaging and at times cutting music reviews, had a warm reaction to it. His review offered the prophetic blessing: ”It seems to me that Puccini is to a higher degree than any of his competitors likely to be Verdi’s heir”.
Premiered on October 16, 2016.
Presented with one interval.
Libretto by Domenico Oliva, Marco Praga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica, Ruggero Leoncavallo, and Giulio Ricordi based on the novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost
Act I
A public square in Amiens
Students enjoy the summer evening in the town square. One of them, Edmondo, sings a madrigal of youthful pleasure, hoping to attract the young women. They ask a brooding Des Grieux to join them, and to prove he is not cynical about love, he gallantly flirts with a group of girls with mock courtesy. As they all celebrate in the street, a carriage arrives at the inn carrying Geronte, Lescaut and his sister Manon. Des Grieux is struck by Manon’s beauty and shyly approaches her. She is called inside by her brother, but has been won over by Des Grieux’s words, and they make plans to meet later.