Director Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe stages Monteverdi’s Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi with utopian enthusiasm.

Madrigals is a musical performance centered around the powerful pull of the "zero point". This primal point represents the fire where early humans once gathered and the cosmic black hole where time and space vanish. In Madrigals, the performers merge into one another, dissolving differences in moments of self-transcendence, taking you back to the source, moving against the current. The zero point symbolizes the fusion of classical and contemporary music, pulsing with the heartbeat of a new world. It’s the shift from a complex, multifaceted scenography to total emptiness on stage. Director Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe brings Monteverdi’s Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi to life with an utopian energy.

www.madrigals.be

“In Madrigals, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe sets to work with Claudio Monteverdi's 8th book of madrigals. But since the emotions of love and struggle belong to us all, the same applies to the performance of canti guerrieri and amorosi. Privileges and dogmas do not exist in BAM's artistic universe, so the dancers sing and the singers dance. Monteverdi survives all that. More than that, his music is the perfect soundtrack for an hour-and-a-half-long ritual where our humanity itself is addressed and celebrated. Af”

Chantal Pattyn

“They become one body. The beats alternating with the classical performance of Monteverdi work wonderfully here.”

Lotte Ogiers, Pzazz

“A good example of how music, theatrical images, humour and emotion go together is when, on the empty silver stage, a fire suddenly ignites - ignite the spark! - and the performers form a circle around it.”

Kristof van Baarle, E-tcetera

Credits

  • Concept | Direction • Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe
  • Music • Doon Kanda (aka Jesse Kanda)
  • Musical direction • Wouter Deltour
  • co-composer • Wouter Deltour
  • Dramaturgy I Research • Louise Van den Eede
  • Scenography | Lighting design • Bart Van Merode / Zaza Dupont
  • Co-curator artworks • Koi Persyn
  • Musical coaching • Pieter Theuns (Baroque Orchestration X)
  • Voice therapy • Rosanne Groenendijk
  • Body coaching • Sophia Rodriquez
  • Choreography • Sophia Rodriquez
  • shibari coaching • Marc Beshibari
  • Performers • Hanako Hayakawa / Alice Giuliani / Els Mondelaers / Lucie Plasschaert / Khaled Barghouthi / Clément Corrillon / Victor Dumont / Antonio Fajardo
  • Musicians I Quartet • Wouter Deltour / Sara DeCorso / Blanca Prieto / Pieter Theuns (Baroque Orchestration X)
  • Video • Filip Anthonissen
  • Costumes • Kasia Mielczarek
  • teaser and making off • Charles Dhondt
  • photography cave • Thibaut lampe
  • Visual artists • Sanam Khatibi / Justin Fitzpatrick / Thomas Renwart / Anthony Ngoya / Gilles Dusong / Christiane Blattman / Daan Couzijn / Che Go Eun / Tom Hallet / Nokukhanya Langa / Tristan Bründler
  • Technique • Pat Caers / Karel Marynissen / Danielle van Riel / Pieter-Jan Buelens / Bert Demeulenaere / Anne Van Es / Janneke Donkersloot / Kevin Deckers
  • Intern (director assistant) • Ika Schwanders