Airs to Ash

A vibrant opera happening rising from the ruins

When opera emerged in Florence around 1600, humanists believed they were rediscovering ancient Greek theatre, believing that Greek tragedies had originally been sung. In their nostalgic attempt to honour the past, they created a new form: an art that expresses deeply human emotions through music. Like those early operas, Airs to Ash arises from a desire to breathe new life into an art form.

Director and self-made countertenor Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe takes to the stage himself, alongside the legendary French countertenor Gérard Lesne and South African Sanele Mwelase. Decoratelier, led by Jozef Wouters, constructs a travelling theatre: a temporary structure, an operatic ruin of the future. Together with a new generation of musicians and four performance artists, an opera happening takes shape.

Meirhaeghe’s work often departs from nostalgia, yet resists its paralysing force. His fascination with the fire at Notre-Dame and its subsequent reconstruction makes this clear: while we restore what was lost, he saw in the ruin an opening, a rare moment when something different might have emerged. What if, instead of restoring and preserving, we built with what remains?

In his signature characteristic style, Meirhaeghe allows music, image, movement, and theatre to converge. In doing so, Airs to Ash becomes a reinterpretation of canon, not as heritage, but as living material.

Credits

Concept & Direction Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe
Musical direction Wouter Deltour
With Gérard Lesne, Sanele Mwelase, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe
Dramaturgy Louise Van den Eede, Persis Bekkering
Scenography Jozef Wouters