Inside Washington National Opera’s Production of Puccini’s Passionate Drama
Presented by Washington National Opera and the Embassy of Italy/Italian Cultural Institute. Join director John Pascoe and Italian baritone Giorgio Caoduro for a program of discussion and music that explores this Puccini classic. Intensely romantic and dramatically compelling, Manon Lescaut was Puccini’s first popular work; it established his career as a composer and laid the foundation for his future successes with La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.
Admission is free, but reservations are required.
Official WNO Manon Lescaut page: CLICK HERE
ON STAGE: March 2-23, 2013
in collaboration with
DOORS OPEN AT 6:15 AND CLOSE AT 7:00PM PROMPTLY
OPERA HOUSE – SPECIAL OFFER
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OFF!*
Save 15% on orchestra seats for performances on March 5, 8, 11, 14, and 20*
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Tickets at the Box Office or charge by phone (202) 467-4600 | TTY (202) 416-8524
*Special offer valid in Orchestra Price Levels 1-5 for March 5, 8, 11, 14, and 20 performances of Manon Lescaut. Mention Code “151327” to receive your discount online, by phone, or at the Box Office. Offer subject to availability. Not valid in combination with any other offer or on previously purchased tickets. Offer may be withdrawn at any time without notice. Service fees may apply.
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LOCATION:
Embassy of Italy/Italian Cultural Institute
3000 Whitehaven st Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) was a little known and destitute composer with only two operas to his credit—neither of them particularly successful—when he chose the Abbé Prévost’s famous novel as his next subject. Although the work had already enjoyed considerable renown on the opera stage as Jules Massenet’s 1884 masterpiece, Manon, Puccini was convinced that he had finally found a story and characters suited to his own particular strengths, famously declaring that while “[Massenet] feels the subject as a Frenchman, with the powder and the minuets, I shall feel it as an Italian, with desperate passion.” He was correct. Working with no less than six successive librettists over a three-year period, Puccini consciously avoided duplication of Manon’s scenes (as much as possible), resulting in a more succinct, episodic, and dramatic work. Upon its 1893 premiere, Manon Lescaut was hailed as a critical and popular success and quickly taken up by opera houses throughout the world.
The work of British director and designer John Pascoe (Director, Set Designer, and Costume Designer for Manon Lescaut) was seen earlier this season at WNO in Don Giovanni (2012). A veteran at WNO, he has also worked for most of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Spoleto Festivals (both USA and Italy), Rome, Royal Opera House, and English National Opera. In 2010 his Hob in the Well opened the Spoleto Festival USA; for the 2011 festival, his production of Menotti’s The Medium celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the maestro’s birth. In 2007 the DVD of his Ercole su’l Termodonte won “DVD of the Year” in Italy.
Also acclaimed DVDs are Lucrezia Borgia (Royal Opera House) and Anna Bolena (Toronto), both with Joan Sutherland; Ariodante (Spoleto); as well as Julius Caesar (English National Opera). In 2012 he was appointed artistic director of the Accademia dei Licini, Italy’s leading Shakespeare Theater, which opened with his highly successful production of Antony and Cleopatra.
Italian baritone Giorgio Caoduro (Lescaut) has performed in many of the world’s leading opera houses such as Teatro alla Scala, Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Opera House, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Opera Australia, Glyndebourne Festival, and many others. He made his U.S. debut as Figaro in The Dallas Opera’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia (2006), followed by a debut at San Francisco Opera as Belcore in L’elisir d’amore (2008) and as Dulcamara in the same opera at LA Opera (2010). This season he will add Germont in La traviata to his repertoire for his debut with Florida Grand Opera.
Chilean baritone Javier Arrey is in his third year of WNO’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. This season with WNO, he will be covering the role of Lescaut in Manon Lescaut.He recently made his debut at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain in Menotti’s Amelia al ballo and The Telephone,and recently performed Silvio in Pagliacci in Mumbai, India. In WNO’s 2010-2011 season he appeared as Yamadori in Madama Butterfly and as a Scythian in Iphigénie en Tauride. In 2011 he won the CulturArte prize at the Operalia competition in Moscow.