LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT

‘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.

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.

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.

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.

With the world premiere of ‘Frankenstein’, the first opera of Mark Grey is finally coming to life. We sat down with the American composer and sound engineer, discussing his interpretation of Mary Shelley's famous science fiction novel. How did he and director Àlex Ollé (La Fura dels Baus) manage to transport the centuries-old creature to the present day (and even the distant future)? 

In the last few years, Barbara Hannigan has made unforgettable debuts in several soprano roles at La Monnaie, founded a mentoring initiative for young singers and won a Grammy. Now, with a semi-staged version of Stravinsky’s “diabolic” opera The Rake’s Progress, she will be making her debut as… an operatic conductor. Time for an interview with this Canadian superstar, who, with that many talents, surely must have made her own pact with the devil.

On 8 March, the very first opera of the US composer Mark Grey will be created at La Monnaie : Frankenstein. The original novel by Mary Shelley is brought to the stage by La Fura dels Baus in an impressive sci-fi setting. The Catalan collective has previous been invited to La Monnaie for Le Grand Macabre, Œdipe and Un ballo in maschera.

On 17 February, Alain Altinoglu and the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra will perform the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven during the third concert of our Beethoven cycle.

La Monnaie invited the Belgian composer Wim Henderickx to compose an original piece inspired by Beethoven’s work.

His harp concerto ‘… after a soft Silence, an enormous Thunder …’ will be performed for the first time with Agnès Clément as soloist.

“If a piece is long, arduous, violent, sombre and hasn’t been performed for at least one-and-a-half years, they call up Olivier Py.” The French stage director surely sees the humour in it all. Truth is, his intense, timeless productions have been a major contribution to the reappraisal of the French ‘grand opéra’. In this video portrait, Py reveals his artistic credo and looks back on his previous stagings at La Monnaie.

The soprano Véronique Gens is a regular on our stage. She made her debut here as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and then performed Iphigénie (Iphigénie en Aulide), Roi Gaële (Alceste), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito) and, most recently, Madame Lidoine (Dialogues des Carmélites). She is also a passionate interpreter of French mélodie.

La Gioconda is one of those forgotten nineteenth century masterpieces: a grand drama with six leading roles, huge choral parts and a spectacular ballet... La Monnaie brings this all too rarely performed jewel of Italian ‘grande opera’. Not to be missed!

On 6 January, Alain Altinoglu and the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra will perform the Second and Fourth Symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven during the second concert of our Beethoven cycle. La Monnaie invited the Spanish composer Mauricio Sotelo to compose an original piece inspired by Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony. His clarinet concerto L’angelo necessario will be performed for the first time with Antonio Capolupo as soloist.