La Monnaie / De Munt LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT
Opera

Fanny and Alexander
Mikael Karlsson, Royce Vavrek

Presentation
Opera

This winter, Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece comes to life on the opera stage  

Christmas Eve. Staff are just finishing trimming the splendid Christmas tree at the Ekdahl family home in Sweden. The Ekdahls run the local theatre and the young Fanny and Alexander also seem to have been born for the stage. The living room soon fills with the sound of laughter and clinking glasses as well as delicious smells. In the early hours, as the hubbub subsides to naughty giggles and the inebriated guests crawl under the covers (with or without their own partners), the children dream at the spectacle of their magic lantern. Nothing suggests that all warmth will soon disappear from their lives when their father Oscar dies unexpectedly and their mother Emilie soon gets married again, this time to the authoritarian bishop Edvard Vergérus. He is keen to discipline the children and rid Alexander of his vivid fantasies, harshly if necessary …  

This winter, Ingmar Bergman’s semi-autobiographical film Fanny och Alexander (1982) will come to life on the opera stage, in a creation by composer Mikael Karlsson and librettist Royce Vavrek. A grandiose family chronicle demands grandiose means. For her debut at La Monnaie, conductor Ariane Matiakh will turn her attention to a score that combines the acoustic sound of a symphony orchestra with ingenious surround electronics, commanding a cast of fourteen soloists, among whom none other than Thomas Hampson and Anne Sofie von Otter. Director Ivo van Hove, who is intimately familiar with Bergman’s work, will dig deep into the soul of his characters and, together with scenographer Jan Versweyveld, will create scenes that gradually unfold into a spectral hall of mirrors. A fantasy world that stubbornly goes against harsh reality – and may ultimately overcome it. 

Are you under 30? Then attend this opera on the Young Opera Night (13.12.2024) and we treat you to a personal welcome, a free drink, a free programme book and an after-event.

Dates & tickets

 – 

Location

La Monnaie

Prices

Start ticket sale 10.10.2024

Dynamic ticket prices
Starting from € 12 to € 170
-30 years old: € 10 / 25 / 50

Language

Sung in English
Surtitles in Dutch and French

Presentation

Introductory talks 45' before the start of the performance

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Dates & tickets

Dates

Cast
Cast

A grand opera in two acts
Music by Mikael Karlsson
Libretto by Royce Vavrek after the film Fanny och Alexander by Ingmar Bergman
Under license from Josef Weinberger Ltd
Orchestration: Michael P. Atkinson, Mikael Karlsson

World premiere
Commissioned by De Munt / La Monnaie
With the kind collaboration of Ingmar Bergman Jr. & Cinematograph AB

ConductorARIANE MATIAKH DirectorIVO VAN HOVE

Set & Lighting DesignerJAN VERSWEYVELD Costume DesignerAN D’HUYS Video DesignerCHRISTOPHER ASH

Helena EkdahlDORIS SOFFEL Emilie EkdahlSASHA COOKE Bishop Edward VergerusTHOMAS HAMPSON Oscar EkdahlPETER TANTSITS JustinaANNE SOFIE VON OTTER Isak JacobiLOA FALKMAN IsmaëlARYEH NUSSBAUM COHEN AronALEXANDER SPRAGUE Carl EkdahlJUSTIN HOPKINS LydiaPOLLY LEECH Gustav Adolf EkdahlGAVAN RING Alma EkdahlMARGAUX DE VALENSART ° PaulinaMARION BAUWENS °° EsmeraldaBLANDINE COULON °

° MM Laureate
°° MM Soloist

La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra

ProductionDE MUNT / LA MONNAIECoproduction ROYAL DANISH THEATRE COPENHAGEN

In co-production with Shelter Prod and Prospero MM Productions, with the support of Taxshelter.be and ING
With the support of the Belgian Federal Government's Tax Shelter

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