Show me La Monnaie

7/29/2019 Show me La Monnaie

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january 2013

Emma Beddington visits

La Monnaie, Brussels ground-

breaking, award-winning opera

house which flies in the face

of tradition to create thought-provoking, technologically

innovative productions that reflect

modern life in the 21st century

Photography Alys Tomlinson

n August 1830, the Belgian revolution

started with an opera. The audience at

Brussels La Monnaie was so inflamed by

the powerful patriotic sentiment in Daniel Aubers

La Muette de Portici that they ignited a wave of

rioting and violence in the capital that culminated

in the declaration of an independent Belgian state.

Thats simplistic, of course, and the underlying

causes had nothing to do with musical theatre, but

surely opera cant inspire such visceral reactions

today? Its hard to imagine how opera could be

central to the public life of a city or a country in

2013, but the enthusiastic team behind the success

of La Monnaie believes just that.

In the heart of the city, near the garish neons of

the chain stores of Rue Neuve, La Monnaie certainly

doesnt feel like a cosseted irrelevance. Theres

a cheerful buzz in the cluttered corridors, busy

with a steady stream of school tours and chorus

costume fittings.

There are props everywhere you turn: a ceiling

is hung with swaying crinolines like outsize light

fittings, and sets of wings hang casually on a coat

rail on the staircase. The company has just opened

a modern dress production of La Traviata, where

Violettas courtesan colleagues are shown in shop

windows, very similar to those that line the streets

a few hundred yards away at the Gare du Nord.

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january 2013

The reviews are in and theyre mainly very good. Its

another boost after a lavishly praised season opener:

Bergs Lulu, a stark, graphic production from Polish director

Krysztof Warlikowski with video projections, iPhone

messaging and visual references to Darren Aronofskys film

Black Swan. Later in the season, the company is premiering

a brand new opera by Belgian composer Benot Mernier,

around themes of infidelity. Youll have got the message by

now: theres nothing cosy or traditionalist about La Monnaie,

apart, perhaps from the building itself, a bijou 19th-century

gem with exquisite gilding and frescoes.

Our public is really with us, and they really understand

what we do explains director of five years Peter de Caluwe,

a lanky, boyishly approachable figure, with an impressive

26-year pedigree in the opera business. We meet in his

office in the eaves of La Monnaie. They are very critical,

but incredibly impassioned about our work, so we have a

guarantee that we can put on a programme that is daring

and innovative. Its that kind of daring that was rewarded in

2011 when the company won Opernweltmagazines coveted

Opera House of the Year award.

De Caluwe feels that its part of his job to push the audience

towards more challenging works, to put together a programme

that forces them to think. I abhor entertainment, he says

with an edge of steel to his amiability, then qualifies slightly.

Entertainment has its place, but were not in the

entertainment business. Society is investing in us, and we

have a moral duty to react to whats happening around us.

When Verdi made La Traviata, he wanted to say something

about his society, and its our job to do the same. When that

happens, suddenly opera is not only the playground of the

rich. It becomes a place of political and social discussion.

Certainly, the demographics of the audience are shifting.

Thanks to initiatives that include an under-30s card giving

Clockwise from top left: a bull-on-wheels,used inCarmen,stands at bay in the props department; afrothy row of ladybird-dot tulle skirts; set-building ona massive scale; wardrobe mistress Regine Becker,whohas worked here for 17 years; rich embroideries andappliqus on the costume teams mood board; shelvesof shoemakerslasts ensure a perfect t; La Monnaiesimposing 19th-century portico; Peter de Caluwe,thecompanys passionate director

Previous spread: painters gild an oversized crown,on e ofthe props for next months production of Lucrezia Borgia

january 2013FLY TO brusselsfrom 50 european destinations. brusselsairlines.com

huge reductions on ticket prices, and A Night at the Opera,

where pop and rock figures give their perspective on an

opera before a performance, La Monnaie has a far more

youthful profile than many of the staider European houses.

La Monnaie is not inaccessible, its not expensive,

emphasises de Caluwe. The lowest ticket price is never

higher than 10. The company is savvy in its use of new

technology too, with a lively Facebook page and Twitter

account and free live web streaming of all productions.

Theres a real will to reach out to new audiences: La

Monnaies education initiatives touched 46,000 young

people last year, from primary school children to university

students; an extraordinary investment in the future.

I dont think you learn to know opera when youre 45, says

de Caluwe, himself a veteran of youth initiatives at La Monnaie.

You learn to know and appreciate it when youre young.

For him, the companys vocation is as much social as

artistic. We go into prisons, we go to old peoples home

we do singing and music-making with people who are le

well off. We take our social responsibility very seriously

Keeping La Monnaie relevant and engaged in the life

of the city it inhabits may be the companys biggest

challenge, but its not the only one. The constant budge

pressure, aggravated by the current recession, is a huge

preoccupation and with only 1,152 seats, its harder fo

Monnaie than for other opera houses to balance the boo

Keeping a disparate team of over 400 permanent

staff happy in those conditions is a priority for de Caluw

Theyre already sacrificing enough: we have to give the

something back, which is wellbeing at work, the feeling

that they are respected and that their opinion counts.

Touring the company, it certainly seems as if that

commitment has paid off. From the wardrobe departme

(an enormous dressing-up box of shiny top hats, bishop

opera


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FrNotre MaisonEmma Beddington visite La Monnaie, le

remarquable opra de Bruxelles

Au cur de la ville, non loin des nons clinquants desmagasins de la rue Neuve, se trouve La M onnaie : un joyeuddale de corridors, souvent envahis dtudiants en visitescolaire et de costumes de scne.

La compagnie vient juste de produire La Traviatadans uversion contemporaine. Une nouvelle russite aprs un dde saison trs acclam avec Lulude Berg, une productionsaisissante o domine lesthtisme de linstallation vido

des messageries diPhone. Plus tard cette saison, lacompagnie prsente en premire mondiale un tout nou veopra dont la ligne dramaturgique explore les thmes delinfdlit. Donc rien de conventionnel ni de traditionnel Monnaie, part peut-tre le btiment, un joyau du 19e sic

Notre public est trs critique, mais hautementpassionn. Nous savons que nous pouvons programmer dcrations audacieuses et innovantes, explique le directePeter de Caluwe, en poste depuis 5 ans, et qui compte spalmars 26 ans dans le secteur de lopra.

Cette audace a t rcompense en 2011, par le Prix andu trs prestigieux magazine Opernwelt. De Caluwe consique cela ait partie de sa mission dorienter le public vers uvres plus difciles, qui orcent rchir.

Nous ne sommes pas dans le business du divertissemeexplique-t-il. Nous avons le devoir moral de ragir ce qnous entoure. Lorsque Verdi a compos La Traviata, il vouldire quelque chose sur la socit de son temps.

Certes, lge du public est en train de changer : grce initiatives comme les rductions pour les moins de 30 ansA Night at the Opera, une rencontre avec les fgures de la rock qui donnent leur point du vue sur un opra, La Monnaattire bien plus de jeunes que bon nombre dinstitutions eEurope. Tout le monde dsigne La Monnaie comme la maissoulignant lidentit propre du lieu ait dides et de passiEt malgr la disparit des gens qui la composent, lopra eleur maison, et la ntre aussi, par la mme occasion.

Manon Lescaut de Puccini souvre le 24 janvier.lamonnaie.be

NL Ons HuisEmma Beddington brengt een bezoekje aan L

Monnaie, het adembenemende Brusselse Operahuis

La Monnaie bevindt zich in hartje Brussel, vlakbij de elleneonlichten van de winkelketens in de Nieuwstraat.

Sinds kort speelt het gezelschap La Traviata, een modeproductie en de recensies zijn vrijwel allemaal lovend. Alween duwtje in de rug na de veelgeprezen seizoensopener vBergs Lulu, een strakke opvoering inclusie videoprojectien iPhone messaging. Later dit seizoen brengt het gezelsde premire van een gloednieuwe opera met ontrouw alscentrale thema. La Monnaie is dus lang niet saai otraditioneel, behalve dan misschien het gebouw zel, een19de-eeuws pareltje.

Ons publiek is bijzonder kritisch, maar tegelijkertijd oobijzonder gepassioneerd. We zijn hen dan ook verplicht eegedurd en vernieuwend programma aan te bieden, aldusregisseur Peter de Caluwe.

Het gezelschap werd beloond voor dit soortstoutmoedigheid en ontving in 2011 de veelgeprezenOperahuis van het Jaar Award van Opernwelt magazine. DCaluwe beschouwt het als deel van zijn job om het publiekmeer gedurde werken aan te bieden.

We zijn geen entertainmentbusiness, aldus de CaluweWe hebben de morele plicht om te reageren op wat errondom ons gebeurt. Toen Verdi aan La Traviata werkte, whij iets meegeven over zijn samenleving.

Uiteraard verandert het publiek voortdurend en dankzijinitiatieven zoals prijskortingen voor -30-jarigen en A Nighthe Opera, waar pop- en rocksterren hun v isie geven over bepaalde opera, heet La Monnaie een veel jonger publiekveel van de an dere Europese operahuizen.

Iedereen verwijst naar L a Monnaie als het huis, also dbonte verzameling mensen, ideen en passies een eigen zheet. Het is hun huis en uiteraard is het ook ons huis.

Manon Lescaut van Puccini gaat in premire op 24januari. lamonnaie.be

34 january 2013 FLY TO brussels from 50 european destinations. brusselsairlines.c

vestments, masks and evening dresses peopled by quietly

industrious tailors, shoemakers, and seamstresses), to the

electricians testing new underfloor lighting, to the ladies carefully

knotting wigs in the make up department, theres a tangible sense

of pride and engagement.

We all love what were doing, even after all these years,

says Regine Becker, the wardrobe mistress, in her 17th year at

the company, holding out a huge box of antique ostrich feathers,

carefully interlaced with yellowing newspaper, for me to admire.

Its not a job for bureaucrats, says Marc Geens in scenery

(26 years with La Monnaie), as he jokes with the painters busy

hand-gilding a vast crown. Im struck how everyone, from the

apprentices to the veterans, to the two men carefully sanding agiant polystyrene torso, bandies the names of operas around like

old friends: Lucrezia, Manon, Medea. They are as involved, as

committed, as any soloist or director.

The house is a real team, confirms de Caluwe. Ive noticed,

too, how everyone refers to La Monnaie as the house as if

this disparate assocation of people, bricks and mortar, ideas and

passions has a spirit, an identity of its own, which of course it does.

Its their house, and as much it was in 1830, its our house too.

Puccinis Manon Lescaut opens 24 January. lamonnaie.be

Clockwise from top: Gina Villani, head of themake-up, hair and wig department, amid thestock of 1,000 wigs; set-painters brusheshang on a paint-splattered wall; this ame-haired, larger-than-life clown will appear inDonizettis Lucrezia Borgia, opening at LaMonnaie next month

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Show me La Monnaie