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Operatic Dead Ends
Carmen Giannattasio as Mimì in La bohème © Mike Hoban/ROH 2012 It’s a familiar cliché: as death approaches, your life flashes before your eyes. If you live in the world of opera, you could be mistaken...
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ROH LIVE Cinema Season 2013/14 tickets on sale
Tickets for the Royal Opera House LIVE Cinema Season 2013/14 go on sale today. The Season, which kicks off on 17 September with a live relay of Puccini’s Turandot, is expected to reach its largest...
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Manon’s musical highlights: The arias of Massenet's heroine
Anna Netrebko in Manon, The Royal Opera © ROH/Bill Cooper, 2010 The title role of Massenet's exquisite opera Manon is one of the greatest lures for a singing actress. It's a veritable honeypot of great...
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Opera's great seducers: From Don Giovanni to Carmen
Anita Rachvelishvili and Roberto Alagna in Carmen © ROH/Catherine Ashmore, 2013 Don Giovanni is a serial philanderer and a murderer. But he still appeals, largely because of the charm with which he...
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What is it about Puccini?
The cast of Turandot © ROH/Tristram Kenton, 2013 Giacomo Puccini is one of the most popular opera composers of all time. Of his 12 operas, four – La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot – are...
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Save up to 33% with Advance Packages for Summer Season 2013/14
Angela Gheorghiu as Mimi in La bohème © Catherine Ashmore/ROH 2012 Friends of Covent Garden will be able to book Advance Booking Packages next week on Tuesday 4 March. Advance Booking Packages are...
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BBC Radio 3 broadcasts for spring and summer 2014
Bryn Terfel in Faust © Catherine Ashmore, 2004 **Update: The broadcast date for Ariadne auf Naxos has changed. It will now be broadcast on 16 July. A total of seven Royal Opera performances are to be...
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10 operas adapted from books: From page to stage
Ailyn Pérez as Violetta in La traviata © Neil Gillespie/ROH 2012 Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor and Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor With its story of family feuds and romantic rivalry,...
View ArticleWatch: Manon Lescaut Trailer
This summer, Puccini's Manon Lescaut returns to Covent Garden for the first time in 30 years, in a new staging by Jonathan Kent. The production stars Kristine Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann and sees the...
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How Puccini used music to portray settings
Madama Butterfly © Bill Cooper/ROH 2011 One of the defining features of Puccini’s musical settings is how he portrays the geographical settings for the stories of his operas. He was not the first to do...
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Opera Essentials: Manon Lescaut
Director Jonathan Kent with Kristīne Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann in rehearsals for Manon Lescaut ©ROH/Bill Cooper, 2014 The Story Begins… The young Chevalier des Grieux and the beautiful Manon Lescaut...
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Manon Lescaut: A ‘Frankenstein's monster’ of an opera that proved to be...
Postcard of the poster for the premiere of Manon Lescaut at the Teatro Regio, Turin, in 1893, by Vespasiano Bignami (1841–1929), printed by Ricordi Any Italian opera composer who dared to peek out from...
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Listen: Jonas Kaufmann - 'There are two types of musicians. I always belonged...
Jonas Kaufmann Jonas Kaufmann was the focus of a special edition of BBC Radio 3's Music Matters, during a break in rehearsals of Jonathan Kent's new production of Manon Lescaut. Jonas spoke to Tom...
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Louisiana's mysterious desert: a convenient inaccuracy in Puccini’s Manon...
Desert road by Nepenthes, Creative Commons. Louisiana, early 18th century. A few kilometres outside New Orleans: Manon and her lover, Des Grieux, have escaped the city on foot, hoping to reach an...
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Gallery: Manon Lescaut in rehearsal
Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais in rehearsals for Manon Lescaut ©ROH/Bill Cooper, 2014 Jonathan Kent's new production of the opera that shot Puccini to fame is The Royal Opera's first in more than...
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Watch: ‘I’m not saying it’s Puccini’s Anna Nicole, but there are certain...
Kristine Opolais in rehearsals for Manon Lescaut ©ROH/Bill Cooper, 2014 Royal Opera House Music Director Antonio Pappano recently hosted an Insights event to introduce the music of Puccini’s Manon...
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Musical Highlight: ‘Donna non vidi mai’ from Manon Lescaut
Jonas Kaufmann in rehearsal for Manon Lescaut, The Royal Opera © ROH/Bill Cooper, 2014 From the first line of this famous tenor aria from Act I of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut we know exactly what this...
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Who was Abbé Prévost?
Abbé Prévost (1697–1763), engraving by Georg Friedrich Schmidt, 1745 Year after year, in opera houses around the world, audiences are reduced to tears by the story of a young woman torn between the...
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Your reaction: Manon Lescaut
Kristīne Opolais as Manon Lescaut and Maurizio Muraro as Geronte de Ravoir in Manon Lescaut, The Royal Opera © ROH / Bill Cooper 2014 In a nutshell, Prévost's novel is all romantic passion, #ROHlescaut...
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Puccini's Manon Lescaut to be relayed live to cinemas across the world on 24...
Jonas Kaufmann as Chevalier des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, The Royal Opera © ROH / Bill Cooper 2014 Jonathan Kent’s new production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, starring Kristīne Opolais and Jonas...
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