Manuel Hernández-Silva returns to Pamplona to conduct Manon Lescaut, by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), in the Baluarte Lyrical Season with the collaboration of AGAO, Asociación Gayarre de Amigos de la Ópera. The performances will take place on February 5 and 7. Hernández-Silva will lead a first-rate cast with Ainhoa Arteta in the leading role of Manon Lescaut; Roberto Aronica as Renato des Grieux; José Antonio López, who plays Lescaut; Carlos Chausson as Geronte de Ravoir; and Pablo García-López in the role of Edmondo. The Navarra Symphony Orchestra, of which Hernández-Silva is Principal and Artistic Director, will be in the pit, and they will have the participation of the Lyric Choir of the Gayarre Friends of the Opera Association (AGAO).
A title much loved by Hernández-Silva, Manon Lescaut was Giacomo Puccini’s third opera and his first great success. Inspired by the homonymous novel by the Abbé Prévost, it is a very sensual and emotional work, faithful to the principles of verismo. It tells the tragic story of the courtesan Manon and the Chevalier Des Grieux. With the passionate and heartmoving music so characteristic of Puccini, the work has arias of undeniable beauty such as the famous ‘Sola, perduta, abbandonata’ and ‘Donna non vidi mai’.
