07.05.2019

PATRICIA PETIBON as Manon at the Opéra Comique

Patricia Petibon and Olivier Py have enjoyed many years of fruitful collaboration – their celebrated productions of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Alban Berg’s Lulu and Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann as well as La Traviata are unforgotten. Now the duo – the expressive soprano and the versatile director – are working on the revival of Jules Massenet’s Manon that they already did together at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. The premiere at the Opéra Comique is set for May 7th.

Patricia Petibon already triumphed in the role of the young girl Manon, who falls for the Chevalier Des Grieux on her way to join a monastery, during past seasons in Copenhagen (concert version), Vienna and Geneva. The press reactions were universally enthusiastic: “Vocally, Petibon does justice to this role with an agile yet assertive soprano” (Stefan Ender, Der Standard). “Petibon portrays this woman torn between true love and a longing for luxury as a lascivious Lolita, and vocally she also has a tendency towards girlish, very beautiful tones. Petibon’s soprano is compelling in its clarity and finely shaped lyricism” (Peter Jarolin, Kurier).

The Paris production features Frédéric Antoun in the role of the Chevalier; Marc Minkowski conducts Les Musiciens du Louvre.