In June 2022 we had the pleasure of announcing the appointment of Belgian violinist and Queen Elisabeth Competition laureate, Sylvia Huang, as the concertmaster of our Symphony Orchestra. After two concerts at the beginning of the year, she is about to perform Henry VIII, her first opera in the pit of La Monnaie. The perfect time to pause and, literally, reflect.

The king’s desire. The dangers of the court. Anne Boleyn’s ambition. The distress of Catherine of Aragon. The Pope’s warnings. Incriminating letters … It's the perfect material for a French grand opéra. Read the full synopsis of Henry VIII here, along with a selection of the opera’s musical highlights.

“If a piece is long, arduous, violent, sombre and hasn’t been performed for at least one-and-a-half years, they call up Olivier Py.” The French stage director surely sees the humour in it all. Truth is, his intense, timeless productions have been a major contribution to the reappraisal of the French ‘grand opéra’. In this video portrait, Py reveals his artistic credo and looks back on his previous stagings at La Monnaie.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

"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.