Costume Designer

Set Designer

A scandalous novel by Abbé Prévost from 18th century Paris tells of the "amour fou" between the young noble Chevalier Des Grieux and the bourgeois girl Manon Lescaut. Both violate morality and law in the name of love and become the most famous couple of their era. Manon is torn between a passionate love and her desire for a life of wealth and security. On the way to the convent, she is matched with a wealthy man by her brother but elopes with her lover. In the house of the wealthy Geronte, to which she returns, she is regarded merely as an attraction, yet choosing the loving Des Grieux and leaving everything behind proves difficult for her. During an escape attempt, she is arrested as a thief and sentenced to exile in the American colonies. Des Grieux, who attempts in vain to save her, follows her into exile, where their shared path ultimately ends in the desert. A tragic love story where love finds no place to unfold. The year 1893 marks a turning point for Italian opera: the 80-year-old Giuseppe Verdi retires from the stage with his last opera FALSTAFF. At the same time, there is no longer any doubt as to who will be his successor: with MANON LESCAUT, Giacomo Puccini experiences his first global success and creates a new Italian opera that reflects the spirit of the age: the emotions are intense and torn, the forms are free, the acts follow one another episodically and obey only the laws of passion. Puccini pays homage to the 18th century in the score, yet the fascination that Richard Wagner's music had on him is particularly felt with particular compulsion in this opera. Richness of colour, dramatic expressiveness, and emotive cantilenas make MANON LESCAUT a very special Italian opera work, with the most demanding tenor role Puccini ever wrote. The new General Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada opens his first season at the podium of the Gürzenich Orchestra with this premiere. Carlos Wagner, a director of international standing, makes his debut in Cologne with MANON LESCAUT.

Manon Lescaut

Cologne Opera

Driven into a corner, disowned by a community who blame him for an accident that killed his apprentice, after the first one died at sea, because they'd run out of water – Peter Grimes is a tragic figure, at the mercy of a narrow-minded rural community’s bigotry. Keith Warner, with a passion for psychodrama, draws a haunting portrait of a fishing community, portraying people thrown together in a claustrophobic world. Ellen Orford finds the jersey she knitted the second apprentice washed up on the beach. With the people baying for Grimes‘ blood, Balstrode, his only friend, tells him to take the boat out, and sink it.

EPSG:4326

Peter Grimes

Oper Frankfurt

Tenor Jon Morrell and pianist Paul Schrage are thrilled to bring Schubert’s seminal art song cycle Winterreise to the Opus series. This cycle is one of the most poignant representations of lost love in the repertoire. Rarely is an audience member unmoved upon finishing the journey of Winterreise. A short virtuoso piano solo will round out this engaging program.

Pianist Paul Schrage and tenor Jon Morrell

Preston Hall

Two plotless Balanchine classics and a narrative ballet from Christopher Wheeldon comprise this program. Divertimento No. 15 is a bravura series of variations marked by complex and captivating classical steps, while the ebullient Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux is a thrilling dance that showcases Balanchine’s ability to evoke a world of romance with just two dancers and less than ten minutes of music. For Carnival of the Animals, Wheeldon, employing a scenario written by the actor John Lithgow, was inspired by New York’s Museum of Natural History to create a delightful fantasy in which a young boy dreams that his family and friends have all been transformed into fauna.

Balanchine + Wheeldon

Lincoln Center

She’s the most eligible bachelorette in 1920s Paris. And she’s besieged by suitors.
Love is a battlefield in Christopher Alden’s Olivier award-winning production of Partenope, a laugh-out-loud comedy of romance and rejection, set to some of George Frideric Handel’s most masterful music.
A master of the Baroque repertoire, Christopher Moulds returns to the podium to lead Handel’s virtuosic score, a brisk confection full of high-flying virtuosity and emotionally stirring arias.

Partenope

War Memorial Opera House

Power, seduction, and betrayal blaze beneath the Egyptian sun in Handel’s most celebrated opera, where Caesar’s arrival sparks Cleopatra’s battle for the throne and love and empire collide in a tale of political intrigue and dangerous desire.

Costume Designer, Set Designer

Jon Morrell

Events

Upcoming events

7 - 25 Jun, 2026

Giulio Cesare · The Grange Festival

Past events

Sep 28 - Oct 19, 2025

Manon Lescaut · Oper Köln

6 - 18 Sep, 2025

Peter Grimes · Oper Frankfurt

About

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