Zurich Opera House tickets 9 February 2025 - Manon Lescaut | GoComGo.com

Manon Lescaut

Zurich Opera House, Zurich, Switzerland
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Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 4
Sung in: Italian
Titles in: German,English
Cast
Performers
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Soprano: Elena Stikhina (Manon Lescaut)
Baritone: Konstantin Shushakov (Lescaut)
Orchestra: Philharmonia Zürich
Tenor: Saimir Pirgu (Chevalier Renato des Grieux)
Choir: Zürich Opera Chorus
Creators
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Director: Barrie Kosky
Librettist: Domenico Oliva
Librettist: Giulio Ricordi
Librettist: Giuseppe Giacosa
Librettist: Luigi Illica
Librettist: Marco Praga
Librettist: Ruggero Leoncavallo
Overview

Puccini succeeded in creating multi-layered character portraits marked by great depth of emotion, not only in the title character but also in the tenor role. Soprano Elena Stikhina, who was most recently celebrated as Salome at the Opernhaus Zürich, can be heard as Manon. Tenor Saimir Pirgu returns as Des Grieux. Following La fanciulla del West, Barrie Kosky and Marco Armiliato will once again collaborate on a work by Puccini.

Manon Lescaut's life ends in a vast, barren American landscape. She dies exhausted, in the arms of her lover Des Grieux, far from the social world she fascinated with her beauty. With this final act of Manon Lescaut, Giacomo Puccini created an unconventional ending that is entirely devoted to the two main characters, underscoring symbolically the impossibility of their love. In the same month that Giuseppe Verdi staged his last opera in Milan, Puccini introduced himself as his most important successor with Manon Lescaut in Turin in 1893. The work was a ground-breaking success: with the story of the decay of a fragile, beautiful woman, which he took from the French novelist Abbé Prévost and adapted for his own needs with the help of a total of six librettists, Puccini found his voice not only thematically but also stylistically. The first encounter between Manon, who is officially destined for a convent, and the student Des Grieux takes place in Amiens, France. But the two are never seen as a happy couple in Puccini’s version. Their fate together, which takes them to Paris, Le Havre, and across the ocean to America, is elusive from the outset. The circle around the rich Geronte, who temporarily enables Manon to live a life of luxury in Paris, provides a great contrast: Puccini illustrates the scene in his Parisian salon with a superimposed, Rococo style, which he contrasts with a sound clearly inspired by Wagner for the desperate passion between Manon and Des Grieux. 

History
Premiere of this production: 01 February 1893, Teatro Regio, Turin

Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini, composed between 1890 and 1893. The story is based on the 1731 novel L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost. In 1884 an opera by Jules Massenet entitled Manon, and based on the same novel, was premiered and has also become popular.

Venue Info

Zurich Opera House - Zurich
Location   Sechseläutenplatz 1

Zürich Opera House is a main opera house in Zürich and Switzerland. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. It is also home to the Zürich Ballet. The Opera House also holds concerts by its Philharmonia orchestra, matinees, Lieder evenings and events for children. The Zürich Opera Ball is organised every year in March, and is usually attended by prominent names.

The first permanent theatre, the Aktientheater, was built in 1834 and it became the focus of Richard Wagner’s activities during his period of exile from Germany.

The Aktientheater burnt down in 1890. The new Stadttheater Zürich (municipal theatre) was built by the Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer, who changed their previous design for the theatre in Wiesbaden only slightly. It was opened in 1891. It was the city's main performance space for drama, opera, and musical events until 1925, when it was renamed Opernhaus Zürich and a separate theatre for plays was built: The Bernhard Theater opened in 1941, in May 1981 the Esplanada building was demolished, and the present adjoint building opened on 27/28 December 1984 after three years of transition in the Kaufhaus building nearby Schanzengraben.

By the 1970s, the opera house was badly in need of major renovations; when some considered it not worth restoring, a new theatre was proposed for the site. However, between 1982 and 1984, rebuilding took place but not without huge local opposition which was expressed in street riots. The rebuilt theatre was inaugurated with Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the world première of Rudolf Kelterborn’s Chekhov opera Der Kirschgarten.

As restored, the theatre is an ornate building with a neo-classical façade of white and grey stone adorned with busts of Weber, Wagner, and Mozart. Additionally, busts of Schiller, Shakespeare, and Goethe are to be found. The auditorium is built in the neo-rococo style and seats approximately 1200 people. During the refurbishment, the issue of sightlines was not adequately addressed. As a result, the theatre has a high number of seats with a limited view, or no view, of the stage. This is unusual in international comparison, where sightlines in historic opera houses have been typically enhanced over time.

Corporate archives and historical library collections are held at the music department of the Predigerkirche Zürich.

The Zürich Opera House is also home of the International Opera Studio (in German: Internationales Opernstudio IOS) which is a educational program for young singers and pianists. The studio was created in 1961 and has renowned artists currently teaching such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Hedwig Fassbender, Andreas Homocki, Rosemary Joshua, Adrian Kelly, Fabio Luisi, Jetske Mijnssen, Ann Murray, Eytan Pessen or Edith Wiens.

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 4
Sung in: Italian
Titles in: German,English
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