In October, our production of Shell Shock was released on CD.
Whether you call it shell shock or post-traumatic stress disorder, war creates serious psychological rounds. A hundred years after the outbreak of the Great War, the Belgian composer Nicholas Lens has written a dance-oratorio on this theme, using lyrics by the well-known Australian rock singer Nick Cave. In twelve poems or canto he evokes the anonymous protagonists of the war in a highly personal and fluent style: soldiers, mothers, orphans, prisoners, etc.
The world premiere of this production – and incidentally the very first opera staging by choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui – took place on 14 October 2014 at La Monnaie in commemoration of World War I.
In October 2016, an audiorecording was released on CD by the label Universal Music Company.
>> The CD is available for purchase at Standaard Boekhandel, Proxis.com and on Apple iTunes.
>> Listen to a fragment on YouTube.
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.
On 29 September 2025, the façade of La Monnaie will turn red for World Heart Day. With this symbolic gesture, our opera house joins a global movement raising awareness about cardiovascular diseases.
