“Patalong looks set for stardom”
it is Patalong in the title role whose resolute soprano impresses most.
She paces herself intelligently throughout the evening, leaving her voice with enough to spare for the demanding final scene.
At each stage of Manon’s development, Patalong explores the complex internal balance of a character torn between the pressing need for money and the longing for true love. Her finely accomplished interpretation represents a further stage in the trajectory of a career that looks set for stardom.
The Stage
the excellent and personable Anna Patalong as Manon showed considerable form in Puccini’s unique brand of vulnerability-withsubstance. She conveyed the headstrong Manon caught between passion and a more pragmatic need for money with great perception, surging into her two duets with Des Grieux, and transcending the awkwardness of the last act. For subtlety and drama, this was quite an achievement
Opera Magazine