MANON to Open at San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera's 104th season will feature Jules Massent's romantic masterwork Manon, opening at the War Memorial Opera House on October 15. Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim leads the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and cast headed by soprano Amina Edris and tenor Pene Pati in Vincent Boussard's production, last seen here in 2017.

Massenet's most popular opera follows its eponymous heroine, the charming Manon, whose self-determination leads to romance, material wealth and, ultimately, misfortune. The composer found his inspiration for the work in Abbé Prévost's controversial 1731 novel, L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut. While composing the score in 1882, Massenet even moved, for a time, into the same residence in The Hague where Prévost had worked 150 years earlier. Through his sensuous, perfumed melodies, delectable tête-à-têtes and tense situations, Massenet created a compassionate portrait of Manon and a love letter to the city of Paris itself. The opera's musical highlights, including Manon's “Adieu, notre petite table” (Farewell, our little table), Des Grieux's “Le rêve” (or Dream aria) and their passionate encounter in the Church of Saint-Sulpice, have made Manon one of the most enduring and thrilling lyric works of the Belle Epoque.

Eun Sun Kim has led a broad repertoire throughout her tenure as San Francisco Opera's Music Director, from the world premiere of John Adams' Antony and Cleopatra to her annual explorations of works by Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, which this season includes Simon Boccanegra (September 12–27) and Das Rheingold (May 29–June 22, 2027). With Manon, Kim returns to the French repertoire, which she has conducted on concert programs with the Opera and, in 2022, the Centennial Season performances of Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. The San Francisco Chronicle said her interpretation of Dialogues “conjures up every expressive strand in Poulenc's suave score and weaves it into a rich dramatic tapestry.”

Director and Costume Designer Vincent Boussard returns to stage this co-production of San Francisco Opera, Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Israeli Opera, in collaboration with set designer Vincent Lemaire and lighting designer Gary Marder. The production was hailed by San Francisco Classical Voice: “The lighting plays a huge role in the staging's success, from the colorful washes of the first act, through the bare bulb and oversized shadows of the second, to the overwhelming darkness of Manon's death scene.” Boussard said of the opera: “I believe the story of a young lady who wants to listen to a call for freedom and pleasure belongs to our time.”

Egyptian soprano Amina Edris performs the title role of Manon. Since making her Company debut in 2016 as Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen while an Adler Fellow, Edris has returned to sing Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette in 2019 (also with Pene Pati) and, in 2022, to create Cleopatra in the world premiere of John Adams' Antony and Cleopatra, which launched the Company's Centennial Season. Her success quickly spread to the stages of Europe, where she is especially known for her portrayals of French heroines like Manon, Juliette, Marguerite, Thaïs and lesser-known roles like the title part in Massenet's Ariane and Alice in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable (the latter two recorded for Palazetto Bru Zane). The French opera magazine Olyrix observed: “Her stage presence is irreproachable, taking us intensely through Manon's painful journey.” San Francisco Classical Voice praised her Juliette as “… a performance that combined dexterous, pinpoint coloratura with lilting lyricism, an abundance of youthful romantic verve and just the right touch of naïve innocence. And in the climactic final aria, she manifested a level of emotional maturity that has long been the signature of great Juliets.”

Pene Pati returns to the War Memorial Opera House stage as Manon's devoted lover, the Chevalier des Grieux. Among today's leading tenors on the operatic stage, Pati began his sensational rise in leading roles with San Francisco Opera as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto in 2017 while still an Adler Fellow. He has flourished in Paris, Milan, Vienna and New York in an array of roles. His excellence in the French repertoire was recognized in May 2026 when he was knighted by the French government and named Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts and des Lettres. Pati, who is offstage the husband of Amina Edris, is the subject, along with his brother Amitai Pati, of the documentary film TENOR: My Name is Pati, which had its premiere earlier this year at the 41st Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Baritone Vitor Bispo makes his American debut as Lescaut, Manon's protective cousin who attempts to uphold the family name. Stephen Gaertner joins the Company as the nobleman De Brétigny; James Creswell reprises the role of Comte des Grieux; Stephen Cole is Guillot de Morfontaine; the Innkeeper is Olivier Zerouali; the three young actresses are performed by Sofia Gotch (Poussette), Laura Krumm (Javotte) and Taylor Raven (Rosette); and many other roles are taken by artists of the San Francisco Opera Chorus, which is prepared by Chorus Director John Keene.

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