Mikael Karlsson's Fanny and Alexander
Thomas Hampson and Anne Sofie von Otter star in a grand reimagining of the classic Bergman film at La Monnaie, staged by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Ariane Matiakh
Cast
Ivo van Hove — Stage director
Jan Versweyveld — Set designer, lighting
An D'Huys — Costumes
Christopher Ash — Video
Peter Van Kraaij — Dramaturgy
Susan Bullock — Helena Ekdahl
Peter Tantsits — Oscar Ekdahl
Program notes
Ingmar Bergman's semi-autobiographical 1982 masterpiece Fanny and Alexander, widely considered to be among the greatest films ever made, gets a 21st-century makeover for the opera stage by "one of today's greatest avant-gardists in opera" (OPUS), Mikael Karlsson, with an all-star cast including American baritone Thomas Hampson and Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter! Following the widespread success of their hit 2023 adaptation of Lars von Trier's Melancholia, Karlsson and librettist Royce Vavrek transform one of the grandest of all films into an equally grand opera with stage director Ivo Van Hove, a connoisseur of Bergman's work, and conductor Ariane Matiakh, who creates magic with the superb house orchestra, surround-sound electronics, and sixteen incredible vocalists.
The opera opens on a joyous Christmas celebration with siblings Fanny (Sarah Dewez) and Alexander (Jay Weiner) Ekdahl, whose parents Emilie (Sasha Cooke) and Oscar (Peter Tantsits) run the local theatre. All too soon, though, these scenes of mirth will give way to sorrow: when Oscar dies unexpectedly, Emilie remarries the cruel and intransigent bishop Edvard Vergerus (Thomas Hampson), whose authoritarian ways lead Alexander to take refuge in a fantasy world of his own making…