San Francisco Opera Guild: Manon preview
About
Join us for a preview and presentation by Rebecca Plack of the San Francisco Opera's upcoming performance of Manon by Jules Massenet . Manon is young, beautiful, and has a taste for the finer things … which is why her family is sending her to a convent. En route to her new life, she falls for the handsome Chevalier des Grieux and they run away to Paris, the city of love. But their youthful ardor is threatened by fatherly disapproval, and Manon finds herself with a choice to make: wait alone in poverty or embrace the wealth of a new lover? Manon composer Jules Massenet ’s soaring score captures the intensity of young love as Manon and Des Grieux’s relationship endures twist after turn. Manon must navigate a path that careens between the radiant glow of love and the allure of wealth. Soprano and musicologist Rebecca Plack is Professor of Opera Studies and Music History at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; she has also taught at the Vancouver International Song Institute. She has performed solo recitals for the International Great Romantics Festival in Hamilton, Canada, at the ATERForum Festival in Ferrara, Italy, and at the Franz Liszt Museum in Budapest; she has also given talks and lecture recitals at Oxford University and at meetings of the American Musicological Society. Her opera credits include leading and featured roles with Ithaca Opera and Sacramento Opera, as well as with the Caramoor and Aspen music festivals. She graduated magna cum laude from Princeton Unive
