Flanders today september 12, 20 1 2
news
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business
#247
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f r e e n e w s w e e k ly
Mechelen opens Dossin memorial, while Flanders launches an integrated plan for heritage
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science & education
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living
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arts
Pumping up the heat
The new Utopia
Researchers from VITO are pioneers in geothermal heating using abandoned mines 7
A top-notch exhibition on the state of human rights is the final entry in Visual Arts Flanders 13
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agenda
© Tristram Kenton / ENO
Erkenningsnummer P708816
Monumental
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w w w. f l a n d e r s t o d ay. e u
The Devil and Terry Gilliam Vlaamse Opera performs one of the worldâs most enduring legends with one of cinemaâs most endearing masters Ian Mundell
Music lovers will think of it as Hector Berliozâs The Damnation of Faust, but when the Vlaamse Opera stages this piece, it will just as often be thought of as Terry Gilliamâs Faust. The film director and former member of Monty Python brought the opera to the stage in London last year (pictured) and, after performances in Palermo, it ends its tour in Flanders. This will be your last chance to see one of cinemaâs most creative minds tackle one of the worldâs most problematic operas.
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he Damnation of Faust is difficult because it involves a fantastic journey. Faust, an ageing and disillusioned scholar, is wavering between suicide and renewing his faith in God, when MĂ©phistophĂ©lĂšs appears. The demon offers to grant Faustâs most profound desires if only he will follow him. Faust agrees, and the journey begins, jumping from one place to another, from a cellar tavern to a meadow, from a bedroom to the street, up into the mountains and finally down into hell.
The piece was first performed in Paris in 1846, but as a concert rather than a fully staged opera. Berlioz died in 1869, and it was only in 1893 that the work was presented in theatrical form. âI think Berlioz was very much ahead of his time,â says Dmitri Jurowski, chief conductor of the Vlaamse Opera and musical director for this production of Faust. âYou can see indications, even in the score, that he needs some sort of special effects that he couldnât describe because they were not possible at the time.â ``continued on page 3