

Natalie Dessay confirms to the San Francisco Examiner what her calendar has long suggested. Her Manon in Toulouse this September will be her last appearance on the operatic stage.

“There’s nothing left for me to sing. I’ve done most of the roles I could do. I don’t want to play Juliette. At my age? Please! Or Lucia or Adina or anything else like that. That’s why I’m quitting. You have to love your repertoire. For a while I thought it was fun, but no. On to something else.”

What kind of "something else?" Spoken theatre, as Dessay has mentioned countless times, is her real passion. But for the moment she's settling for a French concert tour with Michel Legrand.