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She gave up true love for luxury. Now she wants it back.
Relive the unmatched feeling of dawning love in the opera that skyrocketed Puccini to success. Don’t miss Nicola Luisotti’s return to conduct fan favorites Lianna Haroutounian and Brian Jagde in this luxurious production.
Meet the Cast
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Approximately 2 hours, 53 minutes including two intermissions
Act I 36 minutesIntermission 25 minutesAct II 40 minutesIntermission 20 minutesAct III 22 minutesPause 5 minutesAct IV 20 minutes
Fans of the glitz and glam in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
See 3 operas to save up to 37% and unlock rewards.
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Perfect for newcomers, opera aficionados or anyone in between, our pre-opera talks provide an engaging 25-minute overview of the opera. Free to ticketholders, 55 minutes prior to curtain in the Orchestra section. Speaker: Marcia Green.
Explore Manon Lescaut in a 90-minute presentation by Roger Pines. Events held thorughout the Bay Area October 21-23 and cost varies by location. Learn more.
Have you always wanted to see the inner workings of our stage? At select performances, our curtain is open during intermission and we narrate the live changeover. Dates: Wednesday, November 13 and Sunday, November 24 .
The biggest highlight…was soprano Lianna Haroutounian, riveting as Manon Lescaut
– San Francisco Examiner
[Brian Jagde’s performance was] vigorous and thrillingly fearless at the role’s climactic junctures
–San Francisco Chronicle
Each time [Lianna] Haroutounian comes to town…she unveils a performance of such grace and dramatic fervor.
Nicola Luisotti conducts with passion, great reception in return to podium
–San Francisco Examiner
His voice resonating with ringing intensity and virile beauty, Jagde was ardent and dashing as the student from Amiens
A young beauty forsakes true love for material luxury only to become ensnared by a desire to have both.
READ COMPLETE SYNOPSIS >
Manon Lescaut was Puccini’s first great hit, and, astonishingly, his only unequivocal triumph at its premiere. Read more.
Lying just outside the center of the repertory (a core dominated by Giacomo Puccini’s subsequent three operas, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly), Manon Lescaut stakes its greatness on two foundations: its role in Puccini’s personal history, and its own unique treasures. Read more.
PERFORMANCES
Nov 8, 13, 16, 20, 24, 26
* San Francisco Opera debut
1 Nov 26
Lyric Opera of Chicago production.
Previous performances of Manon Lescaut can be found in our Archive.
John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn; Burgess and Elizabeth Jamieson; the Edmund W. and Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Fund; Bernard and Barbro Osher; Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem; and Joan and David Traitel.
The Marriage of Figaro
October 11–November 1, 2019
Ernani
June 7–July 2, 2020
Partenope
June 12–27, 2020
See our full season line-up >