Kristine Opolais’ critically lauded performance in the title role of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at The Metropolitan Opera can be enjoyed via a PBS Great Performances broadcast, on Saturday, August 13. View the online schedule for your local station to see air dates/times in your area. The broadcast is part of the 10th Anniversary season of Met Opera Great Performances Broadcasts.

Enjoy review highlights from Kristine’s spectacular portrayal of one of Puccini’s most iconic roles:

“As Manon, the soprano Kristine Opolais sounded as glamorous as she looked . . . Ms. Opolais’s Manon is overcome with attraction to des Grieux, feelings that unfold in the radiant warmth and sultry ardor of her singing during their romantic exchanges. But she also subtly reveals Manon’s desperation: a young woman whose father seems to have come on hard times is destined for a convent, yet quivering with desire . . . Ms. Opolais brought anguished beauty to the grim aria “Sola, perduta, abbandonata” (“Alone, lost and forsaken”).”

Anthony Tommasini – The New York Times

“Ms. Opolais brought more vocal subtlety and sex appeal to Manon, the country girl whose taste for love is outweighed only by her longing for luxury. With its wide range of theatrical colors, her soprano turned from sweetness to earthy, voluptuous seductiveness in an instant, and the naked terror of her Act IV death scene, “Sola, perduta, abbandonata,” was mesmerizing.”

Heidi Waleson – Wall Street Journal

Photo by Catherine Pisaroni