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MANON  
Live at the Met
Young and vibrant,  the innocent country girl Manon will end worn out by her frivolous life, regretting her choice of pleasure over true love as she dies in desolate spot outside of prison.
From the opera’s first aria,  I expected that  soprano Lisette Oropesa was too cheerful to carry that role to such a bitter end.  But her skill as an actress and her talent— with a range not just vocally but of human continuum of experience— delivered an unforgettable performance.
Tenor Michael Fabiano is her lover, Chevalier des Grieux. Intense and troubled, he tries to escape his heartbreak of Manon’s loss in a monastery, only to rebound as her gambling companion, and to follow her to a painful end.
Polish baritone Artur Ruciński is her cousin Lescaut,  who goes along for the exhilarating ride of a gambler through life.
Maurizio Benini conducting Massenet’s sensual score, which lingers in the ears of memory long after  The Live at the Met performance of October 26 was over.
An experience to cherish! 

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