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La Monnaie / De Munt LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT
© Francesco Gioia Stills – selected by Le Soir
Chamber opera

Burmese days
Prach Boondiskulchok

Presentation

Based on George Orwell’s 1934 debut novel, Burmese Days is set in a small town of Upper Burma, present-day Myanmar. Librettist Sarah Howe and composer Prach Boondiskulchok situate their retelling in the latter years of British occupation, around a Europeans-only clubhouse. When this closed circle is forced to admit a single Burmese member, tensions rise. Social echo chambers, political manipulations and romantic entanglements create further complications.

This chamber opera revisits the novel from a Southeast Asian perspective and brings the relationships between the Burmese characters to the fore. In his score, the Thai composer combines the colour and virtuosity of the hsaing waing and piphat music with a Western ensemble. The result is a soundscape that explores the contrast between, on the one hand, Buddhist cosmology and, on the other, the colonial machinery with its complex legacy.

Dates & tickets

 – 

Location

Malibran room (La Monnaie Workshops)

Prices

Start ticket sale 28.8.2026

-18: € 10
Young Opera: € 15
-30: € 20
Standard: € 40

For its opera performances, La Monnaie applies a system of variable pricing: the ticket prices rise according to supply and demand.

Language

Sung in English
Surtitles in French and Dutch

Presentation

Introductory talks 45' before the start of the performance in Dutch by Pieter Mannaerts (Educational Workshop) and in French by Delphine Clarinval (Museum space)

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Dates & tickets

Dates & Tickets

Cast
Cast

Chamber opera in 12 scenes
Libretto by Sarah Howe and Prach Boondiskulchok,
based on the novel by George Orwell
Music by Prach Boondiskulchok
WORLD CREATION

ConductorBENJAMIN PERRY WENZELBERGDirectorAÏDA GABRIELS Set designANNE VAN ESCostumes BRUNO FATALOTDramaturgeWILLEM BRULS & SÉBASTIEN HERBECQ

John Flory WILLIAM MORGAN Ma Khin / Mr Lackersteen LOTTE BETTS-DEAN U Po Kyin / Mrs Lackersteen NN Ma Hla MayKELSEY LAURITANO Elizabeth Lackersteen LAURENCE SERVAES

ProductionLA MONNAIE,
MUZIEKTHEATER TRANSPARANT CoproductionHET MUZIEK

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