MANON - MASSENET - PARIS
Opera
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet
to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille,
based on the 1731 novel "L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut" by the Abbé Prévost.
It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 19 January 1884
Performances
Opera National of Paris
Monday 9th of June 2025
Wednesday 11th of June 2025
Saturday 14th of June 2025
Tuesday 17th of June 2025
Friday 20th of June 2025
Cast
Manon - Amina Edris
Chevalier Desgrieux - Roberto Alagna
Lescaut - Andrzej Filonczyk
Le Comte - Nicolas Cavallier
Orchestra and Chors Opéra National de Paris
Conductor - Pierre Dumoussaud
Press Review
Classiquenews - Emmanuel Andrieu - June 9, 2025
‘A masterful stage debut with a performance that electrified the auditorium ... Roberto Alagna captivates the audience with his vocal and dramatic presence ... A timbre as sunny as ever ... Ease with nuances, pianissimi and bewitching half-tones ... Vocal radiance showing the full extent of his art ... A moment of absolute grace ... Physical commitment and rare intensity ... Unequalled mastery.’
READ ➕ (EXTRACTS): "The performance on 9 June 2025 will be remembered for Roberto Alagna's masterful entrance in the role of the Chevalier Des Grieux - taking over from his young colleague Benjamin Bernheim for the last 5 performances. A performance that electrified the auditorium... From the moment he launched into ‘Je suis seul!’ in Act II, Roberto Alagna captivated the audience with his vocal and dramatic presence. His timbre, as sunny and instantly recognisable as ever, his ease with nuances (the singer multiplied pianissimi and bewitching half-tones!) and his physical commitment offered a Des Grieux of rare intensity. His ‘En fermant les yeux’ (a reverie in Act II) was a moment of absolute grace, while his vocal radiance in the ‘de Saint-Sulpice’ act and his desperate fury in the final act showed the extent of his artistry. At 61, the tenor proves once again that he embodies the French lyric roles with unequalled mastery! [...] In any case, the audience did not hold back its pleasure... and gave a particularly hearty round of applause to all the evening's protagonists!
Classykéo - Juan Barrios - 9 June 2025
‘The irruption of a superstar Des Grieux ... A knight without fear, without reproach and without a wrinkle ... The voice as sunny as ever, the high notes valiant, and a diction to make an academician blush ... Passion without complex ... An overwhelming stage presence ... A sacred fire that revives the fever.’
READ ➕ (EXTRACTS): "Manon at Bastille: Alagna and his crazy years- We thought we'd seen it all on the Bastille stage. Monumental sets, heroines in search of emancipation, choirs in top form... But nothing had prepared us for what happened during this revival of Manon: Roberto Alagna, matured as the Chevalier Des Grieux, burst onto the stage like a lyrical Gatsby, ready to turn the Roaring Twenties upside down... and the auditorium with him. [...] Alagna, Des Grieux and the eternal adolescent - Alagna's arrival was like a bottle of champagne cracked too hard [...]: everyone had eyes for the star tenor, who at the ripe old age of 62 proves that you can be a knight without fear, without reproach... and without a wrinkle. [...] Alagna's passion is uninhibited, his voice as sunny as ever, his high notes as valiant as ever, and his diction that would make an academician blush. You can sense the pleasure he takes in returning to a role he has played for a long time, but which he revisits here with an almost ironic distance, as if he were enjoying playing the young leading man in the midst of a late adolescence crisis. [...] An overwhelming stage presence [...] In the end, this 2025 version of Manon will go down in the annals less for its retelling of the Roaring Twenties than for the appearance of a superstar Des Grieux, capable of making us forget the coldness of the art-deco sets and the few dramatic somersaults. Proof that in opera, sometimes all it takes is a little sacred fire to revive the fever... and remind us that passion knows no age."
Olyrix - Olga Szymczyk - 9 June 2025
"Roberto Alagna once again takes on the role of the Chevalier des Grieux (and in this production), with his clear, resonant voice and exemplary diction. The audience appreciated each of his arias, but particularly his dreamy pianissimos held with a vast length of breath, as well as his expressive effects of deliberate vocal break when he tried to convince his father, intensifying these moments of emotion. [...] The Bastille audience, convinced by the performers in this new cast and by the musical direction, gave them a long ovation and roared with applause. "
Gallery