Due to illness, Myrtò Papatanasiu will not be able to perform during the Bastarda performances of 21 and 23 March. The role of Elisabetta will be performed by Francesca Sassu.
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In preparation for Bastarda, we present the historical figures featured in this production. Learn about the Tudors and the members of their court from portraits of our cast taken at La Monnaie, accompanied by a short biography.
In Bastarda there is room for only one queen: the mythical Elizabeth I of England. Inspired by a childlike sense of wonder, director Olivier Fredj reshapes La Monnaie into the court of ‘The Virgin Queen’. In this interview, he reflects on his particular form of storytelling.
Challenged by the betrayal of her political enemies as well as her 'favourites', it is not just an older but also a more dangerous Queen Elizabeth I that we get to know in part two of Bastarda. Read the summary here.
The first part of Bastarda focuses on the life of young Elizabeth: from her childhood, marked by the tragic death of her mother Anne Boleyn, through her unexpected coronation to the ultimate confrontation with her cousin and rival Mary Stuart. Read the synopsis here.
From the large mirror hanging in the stairwell to the smallest make-up mirror backstage, there are many places at La Monnaie where artists can indulge in self-reflection. Today, soprano Emma Posman – currently performing Talus in Solar – is doing just that.
"Time has run out, we were the ones to know." With these strong words ends Solar, an 'environmental opera' about the consequences of human hubris and the reckless disregard for our natural ressources. In this video, composer Howard Moody and director Benoît De Leersnyder tell you all about the libretto, the music and the inspiration of Bruegel's painting The Fall of Icarus, but above all about the power that emanates from the young generation, represented by the La Monnaie Children's and Youth Choir.
When creating an opera production, nothing is left to chance. Literally everything has to be thought through, every character, every movement, every note, every colour or detail. The dazzling costumes for Bastarda are the latest proof that such a creation process takes an enormous amount of time, care and deliberation. An interview with designer Petra Reinhardt and Regine Becker, head of the La Monnaie costume department.
The preparation of our production Bastarda, centred on the character of Elizabeth I, coincided with a renewed focus on the British monarchy, illustrated by series such as The Crown, Wolf Hall or The Tudors. The historic event of the death of Elizabeth II proved that many people today share the fascination that Gaetano Donizetti must have felt in his time for her predecessor and namesake Elizabeth I. In this article, we reflect on the obvious and not so obvious links between these two queens in history and popular culture.
In the very same year his homeland was dragged into the bloodiest conflict in its history, Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko (21) forced his artistic breakthrough. In this interview, he reflects on the often neglected yet stunningly beautiful music of Ukraine, the risks of a concerto for one hand and the presence of hundreds of his compatriots during his upcoming La Monnaie concert.
One year after the Russian invasion, La Monnaie is bringing lasting attention to the war in Ukraine and to its victims through several initiatives.
"It's about nothing, and yet it's about everything. It's about life and death, it's about love and social hierarchy..." In the run-up to their fourth collaboration at La Monnaie, we sat down with Alain Altinoglu and Laurent Pelly — a conductor with a unique theatrical feeling, a director who knows how to "stage" music.
With his debut in the role of the charming and reluctant anti-hero Yevgeny Onegin, the French baritone sets himself new challenges.
A love story that is not actually a love story, spleen and ennui, grand balls, passionate impulses, a duel in the mist and intoxicating melodies... All the ingredients of a real Tchaikovsky masterpiece. Read the synopsis of Yevgeny Onegin here, along with the opera's musical highlights provided and discussed by conductor Alain Altinoglu.
In addition to composing some of the most popular works in the whole history of music, Tchaikovsky was an assiduous correspondent. His letters on Yevgeny Onegin reveal a perfectionist artist who was searching for lyrical innovation and marked by his own tumultuous emotional life...
One cellist, six suites, one dancer in each of them, intermittently joined by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker herself. Simultaneously, with a slow and steady pace, the sun is setting. “The absolute antithesis of Tomorrowland” was what the choreographer called her latest: a stubborn celebration of unfashionable faith in an “experience without additives.”
