|
|
|
| | Arts Calendar / December 11 / Opera |
|
|
|
|
|
 Giacomo Puccini's opera in four acts. Adults only. 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. Music Director: Jader Bignamini. Director: Adolf Shapiro. Chief Chorus Master: Valery Borisov. Choreographer: Tatiana Baganova. Right from its first night - at Turin’s Teatro Regio, on lst February 1893, Manon Lescaut won the hearts of its audiences. The première was a triumph for the composer: according to contemporary accounts, “all of Italy raved” about the opera. It was also in 1893, in St. Petersburg, that Russia made Manon’s acquaintance. And two years later it was produced by Moscow Private Opera Company, at the Shelaputin Theatre. According to critics, the Company gave a well-integrated and harmonious performance which is hardly surprising – for the conductor, Alessandro Pomè, and the singer of the title role, Cesira Ferrari, had taken part in the Turin première. The fact that the music publisher, Pyotr Jurgenson, issued a piano score in the Russian language immediately after the Moscow première, is an indication of the opera’s popularity. But, surprisingly enough, in the future Manon Lescaut was to be a rare guest at Russian opera houses. Today, remember, the Bolshoi Theatre is producing this opera for the very first time (!) The Bolshoi’s Manon Lescaut is produced by Adolf Shapiro, the eminent theatre director. This will be Shapiro’s third work in opera. Manon was proceeded by his two successful productions at Moscow’s K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I Nemirovich-Danchenko’s Musical Theatre - Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Lehár’s The Merry Widow.
Bolshoi Theater  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The virtual community for English-speaking expats and Russians
