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The federal opera house in the capital of Europe

LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT

© Leonard Freed – Magnum Photos

Opera

The Time of Our Singing

Kris Defoort

Presentation
Singing might make more sense of life than living had to start with.— Richard Powers (The Time of Our Singing)

During Marian Anderson’s historic concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, a man and a woman, a German Jewish physicist and an African-American singer, fall in love. Over the turbulent half-century that follows, they try to protect their three musically gifted children from the barriers and prejudices they themselves have suffered from. Each in their own way, Jonah, Joey, and Ruth will struggle with the curse of America’s original sin and with the straitjacket that a family, no matter how loving, can impose.

La Monnaie opens its 2020-21 season with the world premiere of a new opera by the Belgian composer Kris Defoort. The Time of Our Singing, based on the novel of the same name by Richard Powers, is a gripping family drama that explores identity, art, and civil rights in a fascinating symbiosis of jazz and classical music.

Cast
Cast

ConductorKWAMÉ RYAN
DirectorTED HUFFMAN
LibrettoPETER VAN KRAAIJ
Set designJOHANNES SCHÜTZ
CostumesASTRID KLEIN
LightingBERND PURKRABEK
VideoPIERRE MARTIN
DramaturgyPETER VAN KRAAIJ, ANTONIO CUENCA RUIZ

Delia DaleyCLARON MCFADDEN
William DaleyMARK S. DOSS
David StromPETER COLEMAN-WRIGHT
JonahLEVY SEKGAPANE
JoeyPETER BRATHWAITE
RuthABIGAIL ABRAHAM
Lisette SoerLILLY JØRSTAD

La Monnaie Chamber Orchestra
Jazz Ensemble (Mark Turner, Lander Gyselinck, Nicholas Thys, Hendrik Lasure)
La Monnaie Children's and Youth Choir & Brussels Youth Choir, led by Benoît Giaux

ProductionDE MUNT / LA MONNAIE & LOD muziektheater

In coproduction with Shelter Prod and Prospero MM Productions
With the support of taxshelter.be and ING
With the support of the tax shelter of the Belgian federal government

Dates & tickets

Dates