Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Adds SADKO and MEA CULPA To Free Online Streaming

Opera Ballet Flanders has added two new titles to its free online streaming offers. From now, the audience can enjoy the opera Sadko by Rimski-Korsakov directed by Daniel Kramer and the dance performance Mea Culpa by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in their home opera house.

You can view these performances on the website: www.operaballet.be. Opera Ballet Flanders previously made the productions Parsifal, La Juive, Rusalka and the dance performances Ma mêre l'oye and Bach Studies available. They can still be viewed online for free.

Sadko - Rimski-Korskakov

This magical opera by Rimsky-Korsakov tells the story of the artist Sadko, who uses his art to convince others to break through the isolation and to open up new worlds. However, his dream is met with hostility. Only Volkhova, the daughter of the sea king, enchanted by Sadko's music, helps him realize his visionary ideas. As Sadko we hear and see the Georgian tenor Zurab Zurabishvili. The American soprano Betsy Horne plays the role of the sea princess Volkhova. The bass Anatoli Kotscherga takes on the role of the Sea King. The internationally acclaimed Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Symphony Orchestra and Chorus is conducted by Dmitri Jurowski.

Mea Culpa - Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Mea Culpa is perhaps the most political ballet Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has made to date. It is the second part of a triptych that he created for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. The work In Memoriam precedes it and the choreography Memento Mori follows it. Mea Culpa explores the world that our ancestors and roots left us. "What are the foundations of our current civilization," asks Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. "At what price comes the comfort that we enjoy today and that has been delivered to us by our parents and grandparents?" It brought Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to concepts such as hierarchy, division, conquest, colonization, human slavery by man and pollution. This performance was part of the double bill Brabants / Cherkaoui at the beginning of this season and was the start of the anniversary year around 50 years of Ballet Vlaanderen. The B'Rock Orchestra is conducted by Bart Naessens.

Parsifal - Richard Wagner

In 2013, director Tatjana Gürbaca gave an innovative view on Parsifal in which she made the figure of Kundry the focal point in the endgame between two worlds in crisis. The production won an International Opera Award for Best Anniversary Wagner production. This recording dates from 2018. The acclaimed Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Symphony Orchestra is conducted by maestro Cornelius Meister. Cast includes Erin Caves (Parsifal), Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Kundry), Kay Stiefermann (Klingsor), Stefan Kocan (Gurnemanz), Christoph Pohl (Amfortas) and Markus Suihkonen (Titurel).

La Juive - Fromental Halévy

Director Peter Konwitschny presented a well-balanced production of this grand opéra in which religious fanaticism leads to the destruction of love. The story of Rachel, a Jewish-raised woman who falls in love with the Christian warrior Léopold and thus signs her death sentence and that of her father Eléazar, leaves no one untouched. In 2016, this production won the prestigious German Faust prize for best Music Theater. This recording of the revival in 2019 is under the musical direction of maestro Antonino Fogliani. In the main roles you will see Roy Cornelius Smith (Eléazar), Corinne Winters (Rachel), Nicole Chevalier (La Princesse Eudoxie), Enea Scala (Léopold) and Riccardo Zanellato (Le Cardinal de Brogni).

Rusalka - Antonín Dvořák

The fairy tale of the little mermaid comes to life in this production by the Norwegian director / choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen. Dance and opera blend together in a beautifully stylized set design by Åsmund Færavaag. Rusalka (2019) was one of the highlights in this first season of artistic director Jan Vandenhouwe, not least thanks to Giedr?- Šlekyt?-'s acclaimed transparent musical direction. The main roles were performed and danced by: Pumeza Matshikiza / Shelby Williams (dance) as Rusalka, Kyungho Kim / Morgan Lugo (dance) as The Prince, Goderdzi Janelidze / Matt Foley (dance) as Vodník, Maria Riccarda Wesseling as the witch Ježibaba and Karen Vermeiren as The Foreign Princess.

Bach Studies - Benjamin Millepied

Bach Studies (2019) marked the first full evening of French star choreographer Benjamin Millepied. He translated Bach's complex rhythms into a physical reality in a spectacularly dynamic setting. "A ballet full of emotions that makes people happy," wrote newspaper LEcho.

Ma Mêre L'Oye - Jeroen Verbruggen

Belgian choreographer Jeroen Verbruggen was inspired by the love between King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola to the well-known melodies of Maurice Ravel's Pavane pour une Infante défunte and La Mère l'Oye. A love that overcomes the most difficult times. With a wink, he turned it into Ma Mère L'Oye (2016), because humor is never far away in Verbruggen's work. The costumes are by Tim Van Steenbergen.

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