Opera Ballet Vlaanderen presents the world premiere of De bekeerlinge, a new opera by composer Wim Henderickx based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Stefan Hertmans adapted into a libretto by Krystian Lada. Hans Op de Beeck is responsible for the direction, set design and costumes.
In the gripping novel De bekeerlinge (2016, published by De Bezige Bij) Stefan Hertmans reconstructs the life of a distinguished young Christian woman from the eleventh century, Vigdis, and her forbidden love for the Jewish boy David. We follow Vigdis' perilous journey from her birthplace Rouen to Monieux and thus to Alexandria. Pursued by her father and his knights, Vigdis, who takes the Jewish name Hamoutal, finds herself in a world of pogroms, crusades and religious fanaticism.
Belgian composer Wim Henderickx wrote the score for this new opera. Henderickx is known for compositions in which he builds a bridge between East and West and is therefore the perfect figure to evoke the different worlds in De bekeerlinge.
Polish director and librettist Krystian Lada wrote the English-language libretto based on the novel. Belgian visual artist Hans Op de Beeck takes on the direction, set design and costume design.
More than just an opera, De bekeerlinge is also a community project. In collaboration with Madame Fortuna and meeting centre Het Oude Badhuis, we bring together residents from all corners of Antwerp in a city choir. This diverse group of enthusiasts rehearsed the score for months to perform alongside the internationally acclaimed Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Choir, members of the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Children's Choir and the soloists on stage.
Among those soloists we recognise Belgian soprano Lore Binon, who has been a regular guest with us, in the lead role. The other soloists in the cast take on various characters. German-Italian baritone Vincenzo Neri, recently seen with us as Marcello in La Bohème, performs among others the role of David. Algerian soprano Amel Brahim-Djelloul, who sang the solo part in Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's production of Fauré's Requiem, appears here as among others the Chaperone. French singer with Sephardic roots Françoise Atlan sings the role of among others Lutgardis. Spanish tenor Daniel Arnaldos returns to our house in the role of among others Celebrant. As Rabbi Obadiah we see and hear for the first time in our house South African baritone Luvuyo Mbundu, who joins our young ensemble. German bass Guido Jentjens finally performs among others the role of Gudbrandr.
Belgian maestro Koen Kessels, who conducted La Strada (Luc Van Hove), L' Amour de loin (Kaija Saariaho) and Satyagraha (Philip Glass) at OBV, now also has the musical direction of the Symphonic Orchestra Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, which is supplemented for this score with some Eastern instruments.
The entire creative process from the first meetings of this world premiere forms the subject of a documentary that Opera Ballet Vlaanderen made and which is currently being broadcast in various short episodes on our social media. Furthermore, following De bekeerlinge we will organise various interventions in the cities of Antwerp and Ghent.