Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall

One of the original anti-heroines, Manon Lescaut is too young to really know who she is. What she does know is that she’s beautiful. Heart-stopping beautiful. What she learns later is that her charms are a commodity that can be bought and sold like any other.

The young student Des Grieux is overtaken by love the moment he sees her, and indeed, Manon falls in love with him. But Manon loves other things too – attention, revelry, wealth.

Manon makes one poor decision after another, leaving her an exploited, desolate woman. Yet, right up until the final note, she remains as mesmerising to us as she does to her haplessly devoted lover.

Puccini’s breakthrough opera was a smash hit from its premiere, and it’s a particular favourite of our music director Giordano Bellincampi. Featuring Italian stars Serena Farnocchia and Massimo Giordano and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra luxuriating in Puccini’s sumptuous orchestral music, Manon Lescaut will be unforgettable.