She will succeed current director Peter de Caluwe from 1 July 2025 for a mandate of six years. Read the full press release by Minister Hadja Lahbib and the La Monnaie Board of Directors.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions, Hadja Lahbib, is pleased to appoint Christina Scheppelmann as General and Artistic Director of La Monnaie, on the proposal of the La Monnaie Board of Directors.
Peter de Caluwe, whose mandate as General and Artistic Director expires on 1 July 2025, has made this prestigious opera house shine since 2007. We would like to thank Peter de Caluwe wholeheartedly for the excellent work he has passionately carried out. We would also like to pay tribute to the exceptional programming he has offered La Monnaie all these years, which audiences will be able to admire until the end of December 2025.
Christina Scheppelmann appointment is the result of an extremely rigorous selection process conducted after the call for candidates published at the end of 2022. The candidatures were selected based on precise criteria established by the Board of Directors, guided by a jury with the support of external consultancies. Shortlisted candidates were then assessed.
Philippe Delusinne, on behalf of the Board of Directors of La Monnaie: “We are delighted to nominate, on behalf of the Board of Directors, Ms Christina Scheppelmann, who will take over the reins of this beautiful house in 2025. We received 24 applications and made a choice, which was difficult given the quality of the candidates and the scale of the challenge. We looked at the cultural knowledge, artistic vision and strategic positioning of La Monnaie, taking into account its missions of opera, contemporary creation and choreographic performances, the reputation, network and experience needed to ensure La Monnaie's place, as well as the managerial and human qualities needed to lead the teams.
Christina Scheppelmann met all the criteria perfectly. She impressed us with her clear objectives and coherent projects. She has concrete, forward-looking plans and all the qualities needed to be an excellent general manager of La Monnaie.”
Hadja Lahbib, Minister of Federal Cultural Institutions: "I welcome the Board of Director's choice. An open procedure led to the appointment of an experienced woman with a remarkable professional career at the helm of large, prestigious houses. It is a great challenge to take over the reins of La Monnaie after the constructive and creative years under the leadership of Peter de Caluwe, who is a great opera director and an unrivalled connoisseur of today's repertoire, talent and voices. With Peter de Caluwe, La Monnaie has a director whose encyclopaedic knowledge and brilliant imagination meet the challenges of our time.
I am further looking forward to seeing how Ms Christina Scheppelmann will use her talents in presenting her first programme. She has a wealth of cultural and operatic experience that has taken her from her native Germany to Barcelona, Oman, Washington, San Francisco and Seattle. I am convinced that Ms Christina Scheppelmann, together with the teams at La Monnaie, especially Alain Altinoglu, the musicians, choirs, studios and technical teams, will present a clear and enthusiastic artistic vision. She has shown a great awareness of the mission of opera and the future of lyrical art with a view to capturing new audiences. Her vision is particularly relevant to the missions of La Monnaie."
As part of the worldwide Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the façade of La Monnaie was lit up in pink on Sunday, 19 October. Through this symbolic gesture, our house aims to highlight what is still insufficiently known about the disease.
During a literary encounter with J. M. Coetzee on the stage of La Monnaie, Christina Scheppelmann announced that the 2003 Nobel Prize winner in Literature is writing a libretto for a new La Monnaie opera, to be premiered in the 2027–2028 season: Elizabeth Costello in limbo.
Christina Scheppelmann, who became the first female General and Artistic Director of La Monnaie this season, has been nominated for the ELLE Woman of the Year 2025 award.
