L’enfant et les sortilèges (An Empty House)
Creation: Opera Ballet Vlaanderen - Antwerpen (Belgium)
20th February 2025
- Direction:Maëlle Dequiedt
- Dramaturgy:Tom Swaak
- Scenography:Charles Chauvet
- Costume design:Louis Verlinde
- Choreography:Bérengère Bodin
- Lighting design:Max Adams
- Children’s chorus master:Hendrik Derolez
- With:Marjolein Appermont, Lucy Gibbs, Marianna Giulio, Luke Horner, Tobias Lusser, Paula Meyer, Rueben Mbonambi, Piero Regis, Mathilda Sidén Silfver, Klara Vermeer
- Orchestra:Youth Orchestra Flanders
- Childrens’ Choir:Kinderkoor Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
- Production:Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, International Opera Academy, Youth Orchestra Flanders
The French writer Colette begins The Child and the spells with a fantastic tantrum. The main character – the Child – rebels and the living room bears the brunt: pieces of furniture, maths textbooks and even pets cannot escape his fury. His rebelliousness turns into surprise and remorse when all his victims – the clock, the teapot, the squirrel… – come to life one by one to seek revenge. Composer Maurice Ravel immediately fell in love with the imaginative libretto and worked for almost ten years on his opera, in which every enchanting interaction is a gem in itself, full of wonderful colours and melodies.
Including pieces by Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Sivan Eldar, Constant Lambert, director Maëlle Dequiedt and her team – with the help of a stage and orchestra pit full of young, musical talent – place Ravel’s fantaisie lyrique in a new frame story that transcends languages and times and brings strange and dark dimensions to light. Sometimes you have to go back in time to move forward – and vice versa.
