Vocalissimo season ticket
Invite someone for free to your favourite song evenings at La Monnaie this season. If you book two Vocalissimo subscriptions with at least three performances the price will automatically be halved.
I HATE NEW MUSIC
Sarah Defrise
19 & 20.9.2025 • La Monnaie – Malibran room
Too serious! Too complicated! Too ugly! Nothing but clichés about contemporary music that need to be debunked once and for all. Enter Sarah Defrise. In her one-woman comedy show, the Belgian soprano lifts the veil on the surprising and slightly wacky world of composers such as John Cage, Cathy Berberian and Luciano Berio. Between phonemes, onomatopoeia, references to American comics, minimalist music, cyclical music and even a few orgasmic outbursts, this is the ideal playing field for the singer’s vocal and acting talents.
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MEMORIES
Christophe Prégardien & Stefan Litwin
5.10.2025 • La Monnaie
Between nostalgia and irony: Christoph Prégardien, one of the greatest Lied singers of the past four decades, looks back with ‘Erinnerungen’ by Schubert, Eisler, Mahler, Schumann and Wolf.
LiebesliederWalzer
MM Academy & Klaus Bertisch
7 & 8.10.2025 • La Monnaie – Fiocco room
What if Brahms had composed an opera after all? It's a thought that flashed through the mind of dramaturge and director Klaus Bertisch as he took the German composer’s Liebesliederwalzer and Neue Liebesliederwalzer in hand. In this semi-staged recital, he lets two young women and two young men indulge in a subtle play of attraction and repulsion, of sensual closeness and ironic distance. All in three-four time.
Grand Opera Prayers
Emmanuel Trenque & La Monnaie choruses
12.10.2025 • La Monnaie
In Die Zauberflöte, an initiation ceremony preparing a young couple to face trials; in Aida, the solemn invocation of the god Ptah, in Mefistofele, the ecstasy of heavenly redemption … Throughout opera history, the expressive richness of choral singing has inspired composers to write some of their most glorious pages of music. In this programme, the La Monnaie Choruses will showcase a best-of from works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi and others.
Invitation au voyage
Véronique Gens & James Baillieu
24.11.2025 • La Monnaie
Paris, late nineteenth century. In the hushed atmosphere of the salons, dresses twirl and jewels sparkle while the champagne flows and witticisms fly back and forth. Only the sound of a piano, a voice rich in emotion and the verses of the greatest poets of the time interrupt the social conversations. Soprano Véronique Gens, one of the most outstanding ambassadors of these subtle and refined ‘mélodies’, treats you to a recital featuring highlights by Charles Gounod, Edmond de Polignac, Gabriel Fauré, Henri Duparc and Reynaldo Hahn.
Arie Da Camera
Raffaella Lupinacci & Enea Scala
14.12.2025 • La Monnaie
Bel canto, but then in private. In addition to their dramatic masterpieces, Vincenzo Bellini, Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti also wrote many romanzas, ballatas and ariettas for more intimate settings. Stripped of any theatrical grandeur, they bring singing back to its essence: the refined beauty of the human voice, the pleasure of a melody on a verse of Italian poetry. This is precisely what Norma virtuosos Raffaella Lupinacci and Enea Scala would like to give you a taste of during their anthology from this surprising repertoire of arie da camera.
Man Without a Home
Joshua Stewart & Courtney Bryan
7.2.2026 • La Monnaie
This recital highlights the personal journey from New Orleans to Europe and back of tenor Joshua Stewart, who will perform the title role in Idomeneo this season. The programme is centred on the legacy of the African diaspora, combining works by such African American composers as Moses Hogen, Alvin Batiste and Margaret Bonds with essential classics by Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein, and rare gems by Franz Liszt and Joseph Bologne.
Vive Boesmans !
Stéphane Degout & Simon Lepper
13.3.2026 • La Monnaie
Philippe Boesmans, a towering figure in Belgian and European music, would have turned 90 in 2025. To mark the occasion, various Brussels institutions are coming together to honour his memory with a series of concerts and events. A regular on our stage and a memorable performer in Au monde and Pinocchio, baritone Stéphane Degout will pay tribute to his late friend, accompanied by pianist Simon Lepper. Together, they will present a recital featuring the most emblematic arias of Boesmans’ illustrious career. A vibrant celebration with a single motto: Vive Boesmans!
Furioso
Xavier Sabata & le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu
8.5.2026 • La Monnaie
Love can drive you crazy… And indeed, that is the lot that befalls the medieval hero Orlando. His quests lead him not only onto battlefields and through magic forests, but also to the abyss of his mind. When his love for Princess Angelica goes unanswered, the wandering knight gradually loses his grip on reality… Accompanied by Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, countertenor Xavier Sabata hoists himself into the armour of Ludovico Ariosto’s (1474 – 1533) furious hero, and proves that grand baroque arias by Handel, Vivaldi and Porpora can also sound insanely beautiful on an intimate recital podium.
