Berlioz' meesterwerk in samenwerking met Aïda Gabriels

ANTWERP – Is violence necessary to achieve reconciliation? With this pressing question, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Muziektheater Transparant are touring the concert halls of Antwerp and Bruges this spring. In a unique staging by Aïda Gabriëls, Hector Berlioz’ masterpiece Roméo et Juliette is transformed into an impressive music theatre experience that explores the boundary between the individual and the crowd.

When Hector Berlioz composed his Roméo et Juliette, he threw all conventions out of the window. The result was a ‘symphonie dramatique’: a hybrid form in which the dramatic action is contained entirely within the music itself. For director Aïda Gabriëls, renowned for her provocative and boundary-pushing visual language, this is the ideal starting point. In her interpretation, the lovers are given no voice; their story is told through the power of the orchestra and the choirs.

Gabriëls eschews a classical staging in favour of a spatial concept. "For me, the music has become a space in which the story unfolds," Gabriëls explains. Within that space, the 'mass' takes centre stage. With an impressive seventy-strong choir and a smaller ensemble acting as a Greek chorus, the tension between the collective and the individual becomes tangible. The soloists do not appear as traditional characters, but as voices that emerge organically from the crowd.

With this production, the director looks beyond the romance of the well-known love story to expose a painful, topical wound.

"If you really look at it, the story is exceptionally gruesome: it is only through the tragedy of two young people that the feuding families manage to reconcile. This raises a question that remains highly relevant today: do we need conflict or violence to find common ground?" – Aïda Gabriëls

To heighten this tension, the production adds new layers to Berlioz’ work. Large screens display visual references to Italian films from the 1960s and 1970s, where the crowd is central as a political body. In addition, author Dominique De Groen has written new, poetic texts that reflect on the position of the individual within the group at crucial moments.

Under the baton of the renowned conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra gathers an impressive ensemble on stage. Alongside the orchestra, the Octopus Symphony Choir and the Laurens Collegium shine. The international opera world is represented by top soloists Bryan Register (tenor), Kai Rüütel-Pajula (mezzo-soprano) and Nahuel di Pierro (bass). The lighting design by Anne van Es completes the sensory experience.