LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT

Marking two hundred years since his birth, this article celebrates Belgian composer César Franck by recounting the highlights of his life and work.

Yvan Beuvard has been familiar with operatic and Lied repertoire for more than fifty years. Last July, he found himself lucky enough to attend the latest lied recital of Stéphane Degout and Marielou Jacquard, a performance of Brahms lied cycle Romanzen aus Ludwig Tiecks Magelone. Sit down with him, and follow the performance through his eyes and ears.

There’s the taste of America, and the taste of Scotland. There’s an almost tourist-board version of the green, pleasant land of Britain, and there’s the harsh war imagery of Britten’s Who are these children?. Stick with tenor Nicky Spence and pianist Dylan Perez, as they give some insights into their new recital programme, and the perils of not being able to wear wigs.

Romantic vocal lines, atonal sprechgesang or even just spoken word – give Georg Nigl a text and he imprints expression and meaning on each and every syllable. In honour of his literary recital, we delved deep into our archives and found this – equally literary – fragment: his heartfelt interpretation of the poet Jakob Lenz in the eponymous opera by Wolfgang Rihm, which earned him the title of ‘Singer of the Year’ in 2015.

After his interpretation of the title role in Handel’s Orlando in 2012, countertenor Bejun Mehta returns to La Monnaie for an original recital centred on the different forms that love can take. We asked the world-renowned countertenor to answer the following questionnaire briefly and boldly.

On the occasion of his upcoming recital, we asked tenor Julian Prégardien to answer the following questionnaire honestly and succinctly.

‘One of the singular artists of her generation’ (The New York Times); ‘a lavishly gifted soprano’ (The New Yorker); ‘This Is Who We’ve Been Waiting For’ (Peter Sellars). For anyone still in doubt: she has the Big Apple lying at her feet. And now Belgium too. A conversation with Julia Bullock, the driving force behind Zauberland.

In Zauberland, Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe, cornerstone of the Lied genre, is paired with new compositions by Bernard Foccroulle. We payed our previous intendant a visit to ask him about his inspiration behind this engaged recital production.

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.

“Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder”. The British tenor Mark Padmore opens the recital season at La Monnaie on September 24^th. Accompanied by pianist Simon Lepper, he will perform Robert Schumann’s ‘Kerner Lieder’ and Ludwig van Beethoven’s intimate cycle ‘An die ferne Geliebte’. Of all Beethoven’s works, it is his large-scale pieces for orchestra which tend to steal the limelight, but Mark Padmore shows how Beethoven was also a trailblazer in the Lied genre.