Throughout history, few sopranos like Victoria de los Ángeles have managed to interpret the Manon by Jules Massenet (1842-1912), known as the French La Traviata, with such identification between vocality and character. At the Liceu she sang it in four different seasons. "They were legendary creations," says the theater's artistic director, Víctor García de Gomar, who has not hesitated to dedicate the eleven performances of this title to the Barcelona singer on the centenary of her birth, which will take place on the 20th. Subscribers to this newspaper have a 20% discount when purchasing tickets on the La Vanguardia sales website.
The modern-style montage signed by the French Olivier Py wants to be a symbolist portrait of the social hypocrisy to which this young woman is exposed who, like so many other female icons -Cleopatra, Eva, Salomé, Carmen, Lulu...- is synonymous with of loss and sexual charge. Co-produced by the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Paris Opéra-Comique, it lands in Barcelona with a visual aesthetic that at times appeals to the musical.
And without the announced Javier Camarena in the role of Cavaller des Grieux, who has not been vocally prepared for the role of Manon's lover, and has been replaced in the first cast by Michael Fabiano. A choice that makes Nadine Sierra happy, the princess of the Liceu who assumes the main role of her, since she assures that she maintains a friendship of years with her American compatriot. She is -along with Amina Edris in the second cast- responsible for giving life to that young woman who, determined to enter a convent, finds herself face to face with an episode of love at first sight that will change her life.
Manon is, along with Carmen and Faust, the culmination of the French lyrical genre, as Víctor García de Gomar recalls. Therefore, the presence of French artists who defend the piece is mandatory. And if the last time that, in 2007, the Gran Teatre served this opera was with Natalie Dessay as a diva (together with Rolando Villazón and David McVicar at the baton), the gala bet now is for the musical direction.
Mark Minkowski, who along with his Musiciens du Louvre has starred in afternoons of glory at the Liceu, the maestro who dared at the beginning of the season with that Mozart-DaPonte Trilogy in 16 consecutive evenings -without convincing part of the critics and public-, returns to the podium of the Barcelona lyrical coliseum with this score of great beauty and full of melodies that express an infinite number of feelings.
"It is a very modern production and it is easy to understand what is the fate of this young woman who becomes a toy in a difficult world -Minkowski has pointed out about Manon-. She wants to be free just like Carmen, although in another sense, for That is why his life ends in a very difficult situation. It is an opera and a production about true love, something very important that in French operas is expressed spontaneously and naturally. It is a masterpiece of the lyrical repertoire that is not represented with the frequency it deserves in the world".
For the French master, this is an apotheosis of the sensuality of French art with strong influences of German and sometimes even Spanish sentiments, which even paves the way for Puccini, as it is an 18th-century story by Abbot Antoine Francois Prévost that becomes a great romantic piece to inspire the homonymous opera Manon Lescaut. "The interesting thing is how Massenet wants to do a bit of pastiches -adds the musical director- that makes the musicians smile constantly.
Massanet's clear writing and the sense of his musical phrases make Manon a unique piece. "Starting from being a musician who played the timpani, Massenet became the most sensitive composer, a Mozart in the way of describing female feelings and giving women the possibility of being free, or at least willing to be. ".
Manon is seen in this montage by Olivier Py caught between the convent and luxuries, pivoting between desire and transgression. Some black mesh walls that are now a hotel, a palace, big city buildings preside over this produced with neon and disco balls or a Ferris wheel. And the choreographer Daniele Izzo, who also acts as a repositor at the Liceu, causes dynamism with the choir and extras.
This is the second Manon for Nadine Sierra who just debuted it in Bordeaux, in 2019, with this same production being Minkowski director of the theater. The American soprano who left great memories at the Liceu with her Lucia di Lammermoor two seasons ago now defends Manon as that young woman who falls into vanity and the uselessness of pleasure to finally be aware of what really matters in life.
"This opera is about all of us, about what it is like to live life without love, no matter how much money, beauty and talent you have. Life means nothing without love, whatever the character. And Manon realizes that she has lived wrong. Just as Carmen seems to me a very narcissistic character, I can identify with Manon, she is just a young woman who has not yet learned what constitutes the treasures of life. It is something that I am also learning, "he assured.
