From Shakespeare to Judi Dench, from the inspiration he found in films to the opera singers he chose for the leading roles: the French composer Pascal Dusapin discusses the genesis of his new opera commissioned by La Monnaie, Macbeth Underworld.
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A fairy tale is never just a fairy tale
A quick introduction to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Tale of Tsar Saltan? Time for a knock on the door of our dramaturge Marie Mergeay. In less than four minutes, she guides you through the final opera production of this season. Major stops: the city of Tmutarakan, the isle of Buyan and the creative brain of stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov.
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A tombeau for trisha
Composer and former general director of La Monnaie Bernard Foccroulle explains how the late choreographer Trisha Brown served as an inspiration for Climbing – Dancing. His cello concerto, commissioned by La Monnaie, gives a contemporary touch to the final Beethoven concert of our 2018-19 cycle, with the Seventh and Eighth Symfonies.
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A piece written with heart
A few days before the world premiere of Bernard Foccroulle’s Climbing – Dancing, La Monnaie cellist Sébastien Walnier shares his impressions on this new cello concerto dedicated to Trisha Brown.
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Going with the storm
Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde poses a major challenge to every opera director. To turn the unendliche stream of monologues and dialogues in this masterpiece into enduring images, La Monnaie brought together two complementary visual artists. The German film director Ralf Pleger is well-acquainted with the Wagnerian universe: his documentary on the life and work of this composer won him the Public Award on the 2013 World Film Festival of Montréal. For this new production, he joins hands with the German sculptor Alexander Polzin, who previously at La Monnaie created the impressive stage design for our 2017 production of Aida. In this video portrait, both artists contemplate their approach to Wagner’s timeless hymn to love and death.
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‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’ is one of those instantly recognisable musical hits that sometimes stick in your mind for days. But what few people know is that it comes from The Tale of Tsar Saltan, where it is a symphonic intermezzo that ends the first scene of Act Three. With its agitated rhythms and patterns of rapidly descending and ascending scales, it describes how Prince Gvidon, whom the Princess-Swan has turned into a bumblebee, flies across the sea hoping to meet his father.
Several weeks before the premiere, the Symphony Orchestra of La Monnaie and its Musical Director Alain Altinoglu are already offering you a foretaste.
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A masterpiece that leaves nobody unmoved.
Musical Director Alain Altinoglu on his first encounter with Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and the major music-historical influence of this four-hour tour de force.
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Let our head of Dramaturgy Reinder Pols guide you on the metaphysical trip that is ‘Tristan and Isolde’. An unforgettable homage to the mythic power of love, coming to La Monnaie on May 2.
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It is with pride and conviction that I present to you the first season of my third mandate at La Monnaie. As represented in this brochure, it reflects an important evolution: for the first time, we did not elaborate around a specific season theme, but rather around a new ‘architecture’, which can serve as a blueprint for the seasons to come. This new structure will allow us to give creation and experimentation every chance, and at the same time we will ensure that this turn towards the future is not synonymous with discontinuity. We will keep offering you projects of the very highest level, with in 2019–20 no fewer than eleven opera titles. This is a record, but also, given the number of new productions, a huge challenge for all the departments and staff members of our house.
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