Opera in 4 acts
Libretto by Domenico Oliva, Julio Ricordi, Luigi Illica, Marco Praga
Based on the story of the Chevalier Des Grieux and Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost

Stage Direction: Mariusz Trelinski
Musical Direction: Carlo Rizzi
Symphony Orchestra and Choir of La Monnaie 

Passion and flight come to an end in the solitude of a desert with Manon’s heartbreaking “Ah, non voglio morir”… This work represents a form of “adventure opera” that takes the heroine and her lover Des Grieux from France to New Orleans, passing through the splendor of a Parisian apartment, prison, and then deportation. Love and poverty, opportunism and money, desire and murder are intertwined in such a way that the novel by Abbé Prévost, which served as a source for the composer, was banned as soon as it appeared in 1731. The opera, however, was an immediate success and confirmed the talent of the young Puccini to create, through music, unforgettable dramatic situations. Polish director Mariusz Treliński, also director of Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki, makes his La Monnaie debut here.