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Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV) presents opera, dance, concerts, and music theater as contemporary and living art, from its home bases in Ghent and Antwerp. Moreover, through its Vonk productions, the house provides a platform for young creators to experiment and innovate, focusing on participation and co-creation. OBV is the largest cultural institution in Flanders. The organization has a symphony orchestra, a choir and children's choir, and a dance company.
Each year, OBV brings opera and ballet together in distinctive hybrid productions such as Alain Platel’s Ombra, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Satyagraha (Philip Glass), and Alan Lucien Øyen’s Rusalka (Dvořák). Other high-profile opera productions recently staged by the house include Schreker’s Der Schmied von Gent directed by Ersan Mondtag, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde directed by Philippe Grandrieux, Berg’s Wozzeck directed by Johan Simons, Wagner’s Parsifal directed by Susanne Kennedy, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni directed by Tom Goossens, as well as the world premieres De bekeerlinge (Wim Henderickx) and Brodeck (Daan Janssens).
The associate artists of the Ballet are Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Jan Martens, whose FUTUR PROCHE premiered in 2021 at the Cour d’honneur in Avignon. Other successful dance productions in recent years include Romeo + Julia (Marcos Morau), Crowd, rewritten with OBV (Gisèle Vienne), and RITES (Binyamini, Belaza, Bausch).
From 2019 to 2025, Alejo Pérez served as music director. He will be succeeded in September 2026 by Stephan Zilias. Conductors such as Marie Jacquot, Giedrė Šlekytė, Trevor Pinnock, Francesco Corti, Philippe Herreweghe, Julia Jones, and Karel Deseure have previously appeared with OBV.
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen - OBV - is based on three pillars: Opera, Ballet, and VONK. Together, they present opera, dance, concerts, and music theater as contemporary and living art forms.
Over the seasons, Opera and Ballet focus on:
- major works from opera and dance history;
- discovering small and large works from a distant and recent past; contemporary creations;
- hybrid projects in which opera and dance can come together in a new, synergistic way.
VONK specifically focuses on:
- artistic education for children, youth, and adults;
- connecting art and society through participatory projects; innovative research on the future of our genres;
- supporting, developing, and training artistic talent.
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen does this:
- from the urban identity of Antwerp and Ghent;
- in active collaboration with the Flemish and international cultural field; and for the most diversified audience possible.