Starting Saturday, December 10, the façade of Opera Antwerp will be illuminated for a week as a beating heart. With this action, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and Ziekenhuis Aan de Stroom are calling on people to enjoy music and also listen well to their hearts. Heart problems are one of the major causes of death. Moreover, research shows that music benefits health. The occasion for this call is the new production of the opera Ernani by Giuseppe Verdi, in which hearts full of passion drive the story forward.
That Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV) and the heart specialists of Ziekenhuis Aan de Stroom (ZAS, the merger of ZNA and GZA Ziekenhuizen) come together in this campaign is not surprising. The benefits of music for the heart have been scientifically proven many times. Moreover, prevention and screening save lives. That is the message that OBV and ZAS want to convey. As the new year approaches, listening to your heart is immediately a good resolution for 2023.
"Scientists at the University of Maryland (United States) analyzed a series of studies examining the effect of music on our health. Most studies were conducted on people with heart problems and compared with patients who never listen to music. Heart patients who listened to their favorite music for half an hour daily saw their blood pressure drop and their heart rate and anxieties decrease. As a result, they needed bypass surgery less often, there was less progression toward heart failure, and they died less often from a heart attack. At the ZNA Heart Centre we too are convinced that music is healing, you relax, you are excited, you are moved. Music does something to your heart. Just as a conductor determines the rhythm of the orchestra, the heart determines the rhythm of our body. That is why it is important to also listen well to your heart."
Cardiologist Nathalie Meyten of ZAS Heart Centre
Opera illuminated as a beating heart
To underscore this message, Opera Antwerp will be illuminated as a beating heart from December 10 to 16 during the dark winter hours. The entire front façade of the historic building in the heart of Antwerp will be illuminated with heartwarming colors in the morning from 7:00 to 9:00 and in the evening from 16:00 to 23:00. Information boards will provide passersby with more information about the heart.
New production Ernani
On December 16, a new production of Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani will premiere at Opera Antwerp. In this early masterpiece by Verdi, all characters are driven by a fateful passion. Driven by revenge, honor, and of course love. With intoxicating arias and imposing choral ensembles, the young Verdi already shows in Ernani what he has in store for his later great works. This rarely performed work is under the musical direction of the acclaimed maestro Julia Jones and we bring it in an innovative staging by Barbora Horáková Joly.
"I am pleased that we have found a partner in ZAS to convey the message that music is an important factor for our mental and physical health. Often the positive effects of music are underestimated or taken for granted. Let us be especially more conscious of the role of music and by extension culture for our well-being."
Jan Raes, CEO OBV
Major cause of death
Heart problems are one of the largest causes of death. With 25.1 percent, cardiovascular diseases have to admit defeat to tumors (25.5 percent). In women, cardiovascular diseases are even the undisputed leader. That is why it is vital that people have their hearts monitored properly.