MANON

Les Arts opens its season with a dreamy Manon in a production from the Paris Opera. Set in the joyful, roaring 1920s by the up-and-coming French director Vincent Huguet, it brings together two great opera stars - Lisette Oropesa and Charles Castronovo - under the baton of James Gaffigan. Oropesa is a queen of song. Her presence alone fills the stage and enchants the audience with the elegance of her singing and spectacular technique - the ideal attributes for posting a "benchmark" Manon - like her performance at the Metropolitan in 2019, her debut in this coveted role. Five years later, she takes it up again at Les Arts. Her unhappy partner on stage, Des Grieux, will be sung by the American tenor Charles Castronovo, a regular performer at Covent Garden, La Scala, the Met and the opera houses of Vienna, Paris and Berlin. They will be accompanied by the baritone Carles Pachon as Lescaut.