Name: A Vagabond’s daydream
Start: 2026-10-02T20:00:00
Location: La Monnaie - De Munt

Simon Keenlyside

Malcolm Martineau

La Monnaie / De Munt

Concertini

La Monnaie - De Munt

Between the first, hesitant sketches on a blank sheet of music paper and opening night, the creation of a new opera involves many stages: looking for inspiration, collaborating with the librettist and the soloists, orchestrating and applying the final touches.

Inside the Music

After triumphing in a semi-staged Winterreise and leaving a strong impression in Esperienza in I Grotteschi, countertenor Xavier Sabata returns to La Monnaie with a recital program centered on the emblematic figure of Orlando Furioso. One week before taking the stage of the Main Hall, this specialist in Baroque music will lead a public vocal masterclass dedicated to this repertoire, together with the young singers of the MM Academy. In the acoustically ideal setting of the Fiocco Room, Xavier Sabata will work with them on the technique and vocal expression of great Baroque arias.

Xavier Sabata

Love can drive you crazy… And indeed, that is the lot that befalls the medieval hero Orlando. His quests lead him not only onto battlefields and through magic forests, but also to the abyss of his mind. When his love for Princess Angelica goes unanswered, the wandering knight gradually loses his grip on reality…

Furioso

Under 30? Then join Young Opera for free and make sure to attend our operas on the Young Opera Nights: one date in the run when you and hundreds of other young opera lovers enjoy a personal welcome, a free drink, a free digital programme booklet and an afterevent or other suprise.

Young Opera Nights

A trio of memorable characters, a thrilling plot, iconic arias... It is no surprise that Tosca consistently ranks among the most frequently performed operas in the world. But through which musical devices does Giacomo Puccini manage to keep you on the edge of your seat for two hours? What do the accompanying chords reveal about the complex psychology of Scarpia, Tosca, and Cavaradossi? And what makes the melodies of “Vissi d’arte”, “E lucevan le stelle”, or the “Te Deum” strike us right at the core?

A tribute to Julie Andrews and the golden age of musical with some of the most memorable tunes from The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, West Side Story and more.

Chasing Rainbows

High-spirited, devout, a tad jealous and above all a true diva — that’s Floria Tosca! With her captivating voice and undeniable star qualities, she triumphs on the Roman stages, while the city groans under Baron Scarpia’s reign of terror. The corrupt chief of police is infatuated with the singer and so has two reasons to eliminate her lover Mario Cavaradossi, a sympathiser with the city’s political rebels. He offers Tosca the choice: if she gives herself to him, Mario will not be executed the next morning…

Tosca

Each year, the Festival international de Colmar transforms the city’s most distinguished heritage venues into vibrant stages for world-class soloists and leading ensembles. Since 2023, the festival has been under the artistic direction of Alain Altinoglu.

The La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra at the Colmar Festival

Église Saint-Matthieu de Colmar

On 29 July and 1 August 2026, the Salzburg Festival, the world’s most prestigious opera festival, will welcome the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Alain Altinoglu for two concert performances of Jules Massenet’s Werther. They will share the stage of the Großes Festspielhaus with a star cast led by Benjamin Bernheim (Werther), Marianne Crebassa (Charlotte) and Sandra Hamaoui (Sophie), along with the Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children’s Choir.

The La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival

Great Festival House

After previously choreographing two movements of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony in the ruins of Delphi, Sasha Waltz, Germany’s most prominent choreographer since Pina Bausch, took the entire score as the starting point for a new performance by 14 dancers.

Beethoven 7

In public and private spaces where their voices are silenced, composers and librettists find ways to persist and resist. Soprano Jeanine De Bique, who opens La Monnaie's opera season in the female title role of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, captures and decodes their journeys in a recital that celebrates the power of expression.

Silent Stories: A Grain of Light

In turn a symbol of freedom, imagination, escape and independence, the vagabond has haunted the imagination of artists and poets as well as philosophers. In the work of Robert Schumann, he takes the form of a lonely minstrel who asks his king for a simple cup of wine; in that of Gustav Mahler, that of a saint who speaks to animals. And while Richard Strauss takes you on nocturnal wanderings, Francis Poulenc gives you a taste of a painter’s Parisian ‘vie de bohème’.