Z - a r t B l o g

Friday my wive had a splendid surprise for me. She had received 2 free tickets for the summer opera in Alden-Biesen. We had to drive around quite a bit to actually get the tickets but boy was it worth it!

First of all there is the setting. Landcommanderij Alden Biesen is a castle that is beautifully restored. In the inner court of the castle is the stage and the platform for the audience below 4 giant parasols to protect audience and actors from the weather. In this case, from the sun and to maintain the temperature when it got dark, it was a gorgeous day.

Secondly there was the opera, La Bohème. It was a modern interpretation of the opera with a lot of contemporary items brought on to the stage. There was also a lot of humor added, small details to lighten up the sad story. As an example, when Marcello sings about how he paints the heroes on the walls of the in he points at paintings of Batman and Spiderman. Another nice one is when Rodolfo buys a little pink hat for Mimi and it turn out to be fluffy pink earmuffs. Yet the arias stand strong as a rock in a tempestuous sea of music and emotion. The cast was very international with famous singers from Italy, Germany, Korea and so on. You must know that this was my first opera ever but I was very impressed and actually moved to tears at the end by the pure emotional power of the music.

Thirdly and this was a surprise, it appeared to be a special performance, a Gala performance. One of those extra expensive once that help to keep the price of the regular shows low. The kind of shows where the rich and the famous are pampered with food and drinks before, in the pause and after the performance. So we ended the night with drinking, munching and talking to the wive of a former Belgian minister who also was the former Latin teacher of my wive.

We had a fantastic evening and the regular tickets are very affordable at €20/30. So, if you love opera, or want to give it a try, wherever you are, fly over if necessary, but come and see this magnificent edition of La Bohème.