LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT

Heard in movies as diverse as The Iron Lady, 2046 and Avengers: Age of Ultron, "Casta Diva" is one of the most famous arias (more precisely, a cavatina) in operatic history. But there is much more to Norma than this piece alone. The Italian conductor Sesto Quatrini explores five other unforgettable extracts.

A Brueghelian Brabantine or a cosmopolitan who personally knew Rimsky-Korsakov and James Ensor? A 'provincial musician' or an international composer who indulged in jazz and Poulenc, and whose operas were performed several times at La Monnaie? Learn all about the exceptional composer of the Nocturne.

Bringing a production back to life in an opera house, nine years after its first performance, is only possible through a whole series of small steps, all lined up like dominoes. Stretching from the last closing night to the upcoming opening night, they involve every single part of the show, and therefore every department that worked on the original production.

In this programme text, conductor Kwamé Ryan dissects from a personal point of view the topic of multi-ethnic identity and the musical eclecticism in The Time of Our Singing.

In The Time of Our Singing, the US writer Richard Powers describes how, against the backdrop of post-war segregation in his country, a racially mixed family is both united and pulled apart by music. The novel inspired Kris Defoort for his magnum opus. We paid the Belgian composer a visit, to discuss this La Monnaie commission in the company of his librettist Peter van Kraaij.

Colossal images of barking dogs, naked bodies, a grieving Mary Magdalene, and an emblematic beheading scene. Spanish painter Santiago Ydáñez brought out his brushes for our production of Tosca. We asked him how these newly created works came to be.

New creations, reinvented classics and the return of iconic productions, all together no less than 12 operas; but also the 250th anniversary of our Symphony Orchestra, the full expressive spectrum of the voice in our recitals and the best of dance: this is the La Monnaie season 2021-22, as presented by General Director Peter de Caluwe.

The story of this opera, summarised scene by scene by dramaturge Klaus Bertisch.

After his interpretation of the title role in Handel’s Orlando in 2012, countertenor Bejun Mehta returns to La Monnaie for an original recital centred on the different forms that love can take. We asked the world-renowned countertenor to answer the following questionnaire briefly and boldly.

On the occasion of his upcoming recital, we asked tenor Julian Prégardien to answer the following questionnaire honestly and succinctly.

Despite the second wave of coronavirus infections and the corresponding tightening of sanitary measures, our teams have kept up the hard work behind the scenes in recent weeks to ensure a return to the Theatre in optimal conditions. General director - Intendant Peter de Caluwe guides you through our renewed programming for the second half of the season.

Twelve dancers, backlit in an orange hue reminiscent of a glowing cinders, succumb to one of the monuments of American minimal music. Drumming is without a doubt a key work in the Rosas repertoire. In this interview, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker herself explains how she tackled the choreography.