The Palau de les Arts dedicates the premiere of Manon Lescaut, by Puccini, to Lorin Maazel

Domingo, the absolute protagonist of the start of the IX Season at the Palau de les Arts, directs and sings a total of ten performances in December and January
The artist sings the role of Vidal in Luisa Fernanda , by Moreno Torroba, his first zarzuela production at the Valencian arts center
The Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and the Cor de la Generalitat have won their first Grammy Award, thanks to Plácido Domingo, for the album he recorded in Valencia featuring Verdi arias for baritone.

Valencia. The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía will dedicate the premiere of Puccini's Manon Lescaut to the recently deceased Lorin Maazel (1930-2014), the title that inaugurates the ninth lyric season of the arts center with musical direction by Plácido Domingo.

The first director of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, a great Puccini enthusiast, leaves behind an “immense legacy and some of the most glorious pages in the history of this Palau de les Arts,” as Mayor Helga Schmidt recalled.

Plácido Domingo opens the 2014-2015 season at the Palau de les Arts. The singer, conductor, and artistic director takes center stage in the first months of the opera season with Puccini's Manon Lescaut and Moreno Torroba's Luisa Fernanda , which runs through December and January.

Domingo arrives in Valencia after winning a Latin Grammy for the album of Verdi baritone arias he recorded at the arts center with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and the Cor de la Generalitat, with Pablo Heras-Casado on the podium.

On December 9, Puccini's Manon Lescaut opens the ninth opera season. The Valencian arts center revives the production by British director Stephen Medcalf, originally for the Teatro Regio di Parma, which had to be cancelled earlier this year. This is the second production Medcalf has premiered in Valencia, following the critical and popular success of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte ( The Magic Flute ).

Plácido Domingo, one of the leading interpreters of the role of Renato des Grieux in Manon Lescaut , takes over the musical direction of this opera, "the third opera that Puccini composed, the one that was his first great success," as Domingo has pointed out.

“In Manon Lescaut , Puccini focuses entirely on the singers and the melodies. It is an extremely complex opera because you need the best soprano and the best tenor, and an excellent orchestra that shines in an extraordinary way,” he pointed out.

Manon Lescaut is the fifth opera Domingo has conducted at the Palau de les Arts, following Menotti's Amelia al ballo and The Telephone for the Centre de Perfeccionament that bears his name; Massenet's Le Cid ; and Puccini's Tosca . Domingo recorded Manon Lescaut earlier this year as a conductor with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and tenor Andrea Bocelli in the starring role.

Rising Uruguayan soprano María José Siri (Manon Lescaut) will perform in Valencia as the character immortalized by Abbé Prévost in the novel Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut . Puerto Rican tenor Rafael Dávila will also make his debut at the arts center in the role of Renato des Grieux.

The cast of Manon Lescaut is completed by the voices of Germán Olvera (Lescaut), Stephen Milling (Geronte de Ravoir), Matthew Peña (Edmondo), and Luigi Roni (Innkeeper). Moldovan soprano Olga Busuioc will sing the role of Manon Lescaut in the final performance of this opera, scheduled for December 27, conducted by Jordi Bernàcer.

In total, the Palau de les Arts has scheduled six performances of Puccini's opera. In addition to the premiere on December 9, Manon Lescaut will be performed on the 12th, 16th, 19th, 21st, and 27th of that same month.

Luisa Fernanda

Throughout December, Plácido Domingo will combine conducting with performing his first zarzuela at the Valencian opera house. On December 15th, Moreno Torroba's Luisa Fernanda will premiere, with Domingo as Vidal Hernando and Jordi Bernàcer conducting. For the first time, the Alcoy-born conductor will take on the musical direction for all performances of a single production in the Main Hall.

The Palau de les Arts presents Federico Moreno Torroba's most successful zarzuela in a production by Emilio Sagi, originally staged for the Teatro Real in Madrid. This zarzuela arrives in Valencia as part of a production exchange. The Teatro Real lends Luisa Fernanda to the Palau de les Arts in exchange for the Valencian production of Fidelio , which premiered in Madrid in 2015.

The production, which originated at La Scala in Milan, has also been seen in Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, Madrid, Oviedo, Valladolid, and Vienna. It will soon travel to Paris. "A minimalist staging of great visual beauty," as Plácido Domingo explained.

As Plácido Domingo pointed out, “ Luisa Fernanda is the work I have seen the most times in my life, since my parents were zarzuela singers and I have heard it since I was in my mother's arms. It is a zarzuela of very high quality with extraordinary melodies.”

The cast also includes top stars of the national scene such as tenors Celso Albelo and José Bros in the role of Javier Moreno, Davinia Rodríguez from the Canary Islands (Luisa Fernanda) and Isabel Rey from Valencia (Duchess Carolina).

Plácido Domingo, "the greatest ambassador of zarzuela," as Helga Schmidt has presented him, has defended the presence of the quintessential Spanish lyric genre also among the future talents of the Centre de Perfeccionament that he himself promotes at the Palau de les Arts.

The Main Hall will host four more performances of Luisa Fernanda , by Moreno Torroba. December 18 and 22, as well as January 9 and 12.