Today : world première of 'Les Bienveillantes' by Hèctor Parra in Antwerpen

Today, the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerpen presents the world première of Les Bienveillantes (The Kindly Ones), an opera in 2 parts and 7 scenes composed by Hèctor Parra, with a libretto by Händl Klaus based on Jonathan Littell's novel.

It is Parra's sixth work for the stage, after Das geopferte Leben (Munich, May 2014) and Wilde (Schwetzingen, May 2015).

The main character, SS officer Max Aue, is not only a witness but above all, also a participant in the horrors of war, but he is not burdened by it. (reproduced from the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen website)

The cast includes tenor Rainer Trost (Maximilian Aue), soprano Rachel Harnisch (Una Moreau), soprano Nadja Michael (Héloïse Aue), tenor David Alegret (Aristide Moreau) and baritone Günter Papendell (Thomas Hauser). Peter Rundel conducts the Symfonisch Orkest and Koor of the Opera Vlaanderen. Calixto Bieito directs.

The opera is coproduced with the Staatstheater Nürnberg and the Teatro Real Madrid.

May 13th, 2015 : world première of 'Private View' by Annelies van Parys in Antwerpen

Today, the first opera composer by Annelies van Parys, Private View, with a libretto by Jen Hadfield, will be performed in Antwerpen (Kunsthuis) as part of the Opera XXI festival.

The audience is drawn in and shares the view of a voyeur who shamelessly penetrates into other peoples’ lives. The opera confronts us with the ambiguity of watching and being watched, an issue that seems more relevant today than in the past : Big Brother is watching you, more than ever. (reproduced from the Muziektheater Transparant website)

Soprano Johanna Zimmer, mezzo Truike van der Poel, tenor Martin Nagy, Baritone Guillermo Anzorena and bass Andreas Fischer are joined by the Asko | Schönberg Ensemble and the Neue Vocasolisten Stuttgart. Etienne Siebens conducts, with dramaturgy by Tom Creed and set and video deisgn by Collective 331/3.

The performance should last about 90 minutes.

Recently received in the mail

I have recently received the following items in the mail :

- Amsterdam : Het Concertgebouw : September October 2014 magazine and agenda ;
- Antwerpen and Gent, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen : Insight 1 magazin ;
- Berlin, Philharmonie : September 2015 leaflet ;
- Caen, Théâtre : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Cooperstown, Glimmerglass : 2014 Festival program book ;
- Detmold, Landestheater : August September leaflet ;
- Enschede : Nederlandse Reisopera : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Kiel, Theater : August-September 2014 leaflet ;
- Mainz, Staatstheater : September October 2014 leaflet ;
- Orange, Chorégies : 2015 festival programme brochure ;
- Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet : September - December 2014 leaflet.

Received in the mail this Monday morning

This Monday morning, I have received the following items in the mail :

- program book for the world première of Philippe Hurel's Les Pigeons d'argile, in Toulouse, April 15th

- Antwerp, Vlaamse Opera : magazine Nr. 26, June-August ;
- Brno, Narodni divadlo : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Frankfurt, Oper : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Hamburg, Staatsoper : 2014-2015 season program book, with May and June leaflets ;
- Klagenfurt, Stadttheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Koblenz, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book, with May-June and July-September leaflets.

2014-2015 season at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Gent and Antwerpen

Seven operas will be performed in Gent and Antwerpen during the 2014-2015 season of the Opera Vlaanderen :

- Richard Strauss : Elektra, conducted by Dmitri Jurowski, directed by David Bösch (new production) ;
- Modest Mussorgsky : Khovanshchina, conducted by Dmitri Jurowski, directed by David Alden (new production) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Cosi fan tutte, conducted by Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, directed by Guy Joosten (premièred in March 2009) ;
- Philip Glass : Akhnaten, conducted by Titus Engel, directed by Nigel Lowery (new production) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Don Giovanni, conducted by Alexander Joel, directed by Guy Joosten (production to be premièred next month) ;
- Jacques Fromental Halévy : La Juive, conducted by Tomas Netopil, directed by Peter Konwitschny (new production) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Paul McCreesh, directed by Guy Joosten (first performed in December 1999).

In addition to these 7 works in 5 languages, Opera XXI will present for the 4th time some contemporary works, including a world première :

- Annelies Van Parys : Private View, conducted by by Etienne Siebens, directed by Tom Creed ;
- Dominique Pauwles : L'Autre hiver, conducted by Filip Rathé, directed by Denis Marleau and Stéphanie Jasmin ;
- Serge Verstockt : Hrzschmrz, opéra de trash ;
- Andrea Molino : - there is no why here -, conducted by the composer, directed by Wouter Van Looy (first performed in Bologna, last April) .

Received in the mail this Friday morning

This Friday morning, I have received the following in the mail :

- Dresden : Semperoper, magazine Nr. 6 ;
- Essen : Aalto-Musiktheater, 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Magdeburg : Theater, June-July 2014 leaflet ;
- Massy : Opéra, 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Gent / Antwerpen : Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, 2014-2015 season program book.