Plácido Domingo, star of the start of the opera season at the Palau de les Arts
27.11.2014
Valencia. Plácido Domingo has been immersed since the beginning of the week in rehearsals for Puccini's Manon Lescaut , which opens the opera season at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía on December 9.
The singer, director and artistic manager arrives in Valencia after winning a Latin Grammy for the album of Verdi baritone arias that he recorded at the arts center with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and Pablo Heras-Casado on the podium.
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 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 . The Uruguayan diva has already sung Verdi's Requiem with the Valencia Symphony Orchestra (OCV) and Maestro Carlo Maria Rizzi in Alicante.
María José Siri is one of the most sought-after voices by the main Italian theaters and festivals, including La Scala in Milan, where she has worked with Daniel Barenboim and Gustavo Dudamel, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where she was directed by Zubin Mehta, and the Arena di Verona, where she sang with Plácido Domingo and Andrea Bocelli.
Also making his debut at the arts center is Puerto Rican Rafael Dávila in the role of Renato des Grieux. The rising tenor has developed an extensive career in the United States, performing in productions for opera houses such as those in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, among others. The young singer alternates between Verdi and Puccini repertoire and zarzuela and operetta. He has been conducted by Valencian conductors Jordi Bernàcer in Cavalleria rusticana in Naples and Ramón Tébar in Tosca in Miami.
The Palau de les Arts presents Manon Lescaut in a production by the British director Stephen Medcalf with set and costume design by Jamie Vartan and lighting by Simon Corder for the Teatro Regio di Parma.
This is the second production that Medcalf has presented in Valencia after the success of his conceptual and symbolist version of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte ( The Magic Flute ).
The cast of Manon Lescaut is completed by Gabriele Viviani (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.
