'Classics never stop asking questions'

We kick off with Parsifal by Richard Wagner. This is a special opera not only for you, but for the entire house.

Opera Ballet Vlaanderen has a long history with Parsifal. The Opera in Antwerp is one of the first places where the work was performed outside Bayreuth. The acoustics are perfect for Parsifal. This led to a Parsifal tradition that lasted for decades: the piece was on the programme every year during Holy Week. When the Flemish Opera was founded in 1981 and Ghent and Antwerp were merged, that tradition ended. But later artistic directors Marc Clémeur and Aviel Cahn each brought their own Parsifal. Now it is time for a new Parsifal.

What makes Parsifal so special?

Parsifal is Wagner's final opera, his musical testament, in which he reached absolute mastery. At the same time, it is one of his most controversial works, and so you're never done with it. It can be interpreted in so many ways. Every era deserves its own Parsifal.

You entrusted the direction to the German Susanne Kennedy.

I’m very pleased we were able to convince her to direct her first Wagner opera with us. Previously, she staged Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass for Theater Basel. Susanne Kennedy is one of the most important directors in Germany and Europe. Parsifal is the ideal opera for her if you know her body of work. Many of the themes in her oeuvre—ritual, total control of time, the mystical and esoteric, the deeply layered structures—are also central to Parsifal. Plus: Wagner pushes theatrical means to the limit in Parsifal, making it almost an art installation. Susanne Kennedy has been collaborating for several years with visual artist and video artist Markus Selg, who is also her life partner. So, just like Wagner, this is where art and theatre merge into an overwhelming Gesamtkunstwerk. What fascinates me most in Kennedy's interpretation is that she takes the core of Parsifal’s story—the search for inner truth—100% seriously.

'Parsifal is one of Wagner's most controversial works and that's why you are never finished with it. You can read it in so many ways. Every era deserves its own Parsifal.'

– Jan Vandenhouwe

What do you mean by that?

Parsifal has its roots in medieval Christian stories, which themselves stem from even older myths. The 12th-century writer Chrétien de Troyes wrote the first Grail romance Perceval ou le Conte du Graal in Ghent, when he was working for Philip of Alsace, the Count of Flanders who built the Gravensteen. Parsifal tells of an inexperienced young man who encounters a suffering king but fails to ask him a question. He shows no empathy and is harshly punished for it. We then follow him on his quest, a journey through the outer world that is above all a journey within. Eventually, he reaches a new state of consciousness and is able to show compassion. Mitleid is a leitmotif for Wagner, who saw important links with Buddhism and other esoteric traditions. What’s unique about Susanne Kennedy is that she fully embraces this. She returns to the archaic origins of theatre and truly believes in opera as a collective ritual. Like Wagner, but using today’s technologically advanced and digital forms, she pulls us into a shared experience. She invites us—together with the performers and singers on stage—to take part in that ritual and, in doing so, we undertake an inner journey together.

Parsifal asks no question. Is that why this brochure is full of questions that emerge from the performances?

Asking a question shows your involvement with the other. I’m convinced that this is more important than ever, in a time dominated by social media where people mainly seek confirmation of their own views. Not-knowing is the central theme this season. We want to ask sincere questions, and these are handed to us by the stories we present on stage. The great masterpieces continue to interrogate us. We've long noticed that audiences are seeking out these classics. Classical concerts sell very well, as do performances that tell a grand story. In unclear and uncertain times when everyone is thrown back on themselves, people long to relive those stories collectively. We want to feel, reflect and ask questions together—and that is precisely what rituals are all about.

The central ballet production – with Le Sacre du printemps, Boléro and La Valse – was given the overarching title Rites.

The most famous ritual in ballet history is without doubt Le Sacre du printemps by Igor Stravinsky. We are presenting it in the phenomenal version by Pina Bausch. It is a harsh and merciless performance in which themes such as peer pressure, sacrifice and violence against women are lifted to an existential level. Pina Bausch took radical emotional experience as her starting point. The physical exhaustion of the dancers is also real—not acted—and this draws the audience in completely. Ravel's Boléro is also one long ritual, but in contrast, it highlights the power of unity. Young choreographer Shahar Binyamini wants to offer a counterbalance to a world full of division and war. His Bolero X is a thrilling and rousing choreography with fifty dancers.

‘'The most famous ritual in ballet history is without a doubt Le Sacre du printemps by Igor Stravinsky. We present it in the phenomenal version of Pina Bausch.'’

– Jan Vandenhouwe

La Valse, also by Ravel, becomes more of an intimate ritual. And there is a special link with our house...

That's right. For a long time, it was believed that La Valse premiered in Paris, but letters from Ravel have recently revealed that a choreographer from the then ballet company of the Antwerp Opera created it here—exactly one hundred years ago. We celebrate that anniversary with French-Algerian choreographer Nacera Belaza, who will create an intimate solo. Rites will be a beautiful and coherent evening of stunning music—all three ballets have fantastic scores—performed live by our orchestra.

Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe also departs from that famous Le Sacre du printemps, but turns it into his very own creation, under the title a rite of spring.

We know Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe from A Revue, and within our Vonk program we are guiding his development. Together with drummer Lander Gyselinck, he takes on a re-creation of Le Sacre du printemps, starting from the original choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. The questions he raises include: how do you carry such an iconic ballet into the future? How do you deal with the radically innovative potential it still holds? Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe wants to create a new ritual with performers, placing the female body at the centre.

Which brings us seamlessly to choreographer Florentina Holzinger and her much talked about performance SANCTA.

Florentina Holzinger is one of the most exciting choreographers working today, and I’m absolutely thrilled she is bringing SANCTA to us with her performers, and with our choir and orchestra. The piece has already appeared at major festivals and renowned opera houses, receiving ecstatic responses. Holzinger uses a one-act opera by Paul Hindemith, Sancta Susanna, as a springboard to question the rituals of the Catholic Church—a church where men dominate and women are cast as sinners. In SANCTA, she and her performers shake off all guilt and shame. Together, they reclaim the liturgy in a great act of liberation. Opera as a genre is not sacrosant either: Holzinger tears down all barriers and delightfully mixes high and low culture. The result is a hybrid performance where dance and opera meet.

Alongside SANCTA, our season closer Carmen is also a hybrid production.

Carmen will be the largest production our house has ever staged, bringing together our choir, children's choir, ballet, and orchestra. Choreographer and director Wim Vandekeybus presents Carmen as a timeless myth, far removed from Spanish folklore. He returns to the archetypal, almost ritual roots of the story. Think of the bullfighting theme as a kind of initiation rite. Vandekeybus focuses on the core oppositions in the story—man versus woman, freedom versus convention—and expresses them in a highly physical way. As a choreographer, he always pushes his dancers and performers to the extreme. It’s fascinating to pair him with a vitalist work like Carmen. I am very curious to see the result.

Mozart's Don Giovanni is also about the battle of the sexes. What can we expect from director Tom Goossens?

Don Giovanni is one of the few myths that modern Europe has produced, alongside Faust. Faust is about the pursuit of knowledge, Don Giovanni about debauchery, sin, and the flesh. Right in the first bars, Don Giovanni rapes a woman, later he kills her father—yet he remains irresistibly seductive. Tom Goossens wants to use theatrical play to explore why this story continues to fascinate us. At the same time, he brings it into our time, into the world of #metoo and cancel culture. Together with the performers and the audience, he wants to explore: is there a way out for Don Giovanni? Night after night, each time the opera is staged, he is sent to hell. Can that eternal loop be broken? Is a second chance possible?

‘Night after night, every time the opera is performed, Don Giovanni is sent to hell in the end. Can that eternal loop be broken? Is a second chance possible?’

– Jan Vandenhouwe

For music lovers, 25/26 will be a feast, with Don Giovanni, Parsifal, Carmen and Nabucco on the bill.

Absolutely. With these, we present the absolute masterpieces by the four great opera composers—Mozart, Wagner, Bizet and Verdi. In Nabucco, the Brazilian director and filmmaker Christiane Jatahy exposes a timeless story of migration, identity and extremism. And there is also magnificent music to experience in our ballet programme. The Greek choreographer Christos Papadopoulos brings his OPUS to OBV: a stirring group choreography set to Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge. And in our second ballet triple bill, Bach’s music will again be performed live: in Love & Loss, our ballet company presents three deeply moving dance works in one evening. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker reworks her choreography to Bach’s second cello suite from her production Mitten wir im Leben sind. It is believed that Bach composed the cello suites after the death of his first wife. William Forsythe’s poignant Quintett is also on the programme—a lyrical waltz for five dancers created as a final love letter to his terminally ill wife.

2025 will be the final season for our music director Alejo Pérez at OBV.

He will conduct Parsifal. There is no more beautiful work with which to crown his six-year tenure at OBV than Parsifal, a piece that unites all our musical forces—chorus, orchestra, and children’s chorus. Wagner, like Richard Strauss, lies at the heart of Alejo’s repertoire, so this is a truly fitting finale. Alejo excels with his analytical perspective and refined interpretation of the score. He has a unique talent for revealing the modernity in classical works. Friends and critics alike will agree that our orchestra has only improved during his time on the podium. It’s only fitting that Alejo, in addition to Parsifal, will also conduct a farewell concert featuring Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the Pastorale.

The opera house in Ghent will close temporarily in January 2026, but there are enticing alternatives for audiences there.

Absolutely. We’ll present ballet performances at the Capitole and concerts at De Bijloke and the MIRY Concert Hall. Audiences can also experience Carmen at Concertgebouw Brugge. Through our partnership with Opéra de Lille, we’ll present The Makropoulos Affair in Lille—in the fantastic production by Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó, which premiered here in 2016. The opera by Leoš Janáček tells the story of a woman who, through a potion given by her alchemist father, cannot die. We see before our eyes the horror of eternal life. This brings us back again to that endless Parsifal and to its most enigmatic character: Kundry. She once laughed at Christ’s suffering and was cursed for it. Her punishment: to be reborn again and again.

Let’s conclude by returning to where we began—with Parsifal and Carmen. It’s striking that philosopher Nietzsche saw these two operas as complete opposites and wrote passionately about them.

Nietzsche was for a long time Wagner’s greatest admirer, and much of his philosophy developed in dialogue with him. Wagner was the most important figure in his life—until they fell out. Nietzsche saw Parsifal as Wagner’s surrender to Catholicism. While Tristan und Isolde celebrated the body, sexuality and instinct, Parsifal, he believed, centred on chastity and renunciation. For Nietzsche, Parsifal was a sick, life-denying work, whereas Carmen embodied rhythm and the force of life. In Carmen, he saw real people with real emotions, unashamed in their passion. And yet, Nietzsche also said that the overture to Parsifal was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. That’s why I find it so fascinating to programme these two operas—so often set in opposition—together in one season, one at the beginning, one at the end.