Stage director and mezzo Helene Bracke makes a new family production with a baritone and clown, featuring music from Purcell to Sinatra.
A heart-warming family performance about the beauty of grief and the inseparable love connected to it. The Belgian National Orchestra brings solace and joy with orchestral music by Purcell, Khachaturian and Saint-Saëns, arias by Mozart, Thomas and also music by Sinatra and Brel.
Do you believe in life after death?
Yes - says Anna - death scares...
A heart-warming family performance about the beauty of grief and the inseparable love connected to it. The Belgian National Orchestra brings solace and joy with orchestral music by Purcell, Khachaturian and Saint-Saëns, arias by Mozart, Thomas and also music by Sinatra and Brel.
Do you believe in life after death?
Yes - says Anna - death scares me less.
Oh, then I believe in it too - says Emile.
Anna and Emile create a world together. Not just any world, but a world where Anna's grandma and Emile's dad meet. Their beloved departed ones laugh and joke, cry and feel the void, but above all: they live. For eternity. Dad lives in the sparkle of Emile's eyes, and Anna finds her grandma in the comforting smell of a pie fresh out of the oven.
With À la vie, à la mort, singer and stage director Helene Bracke aims to forever break the taboo around grief and loss. Physical actor Anatoli Akerman (Cirque du Soleil, Circus Roncalli, Walt Disney), with his subtle antics, strikes a perfect balance between sorrow and entertainment, between mourning and laughter.
Bilingual performance Dutch-French.
Thanks to asbl/vzw Missing you, asbl/vzw Internationaal Comité, Joëlle Charlier, Benoît De Leersnyder and especially to all the children who helped philosophise.
Created with the support of the Belgian Tax Shelter through Casa Kafka Pictures.
Tickets
Programme
-
Henry Purcell
March and Canzona for Queen Mary's Funeral, Z. 860 -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cosi Fan Tutti, "Smanie Implacabili" -
Frank Sinatra
My Way (arr. Benjamien Lycke) -
Julius Fučík
Entry of the Gladiators -
Henry Purcell
King Arthur, “The Cold Song” -
Ambroise Thomas
Mignon, “As-tu souffert ? As-tu pleuré ?” -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Die Zauberflöte, KV.620, "Indiesen heilgen hallen" -
Camille Saint-Saëns
Danse macabre, op. 40 -
John Dowland
Flow My Tears (arr. Benjamien Lycke) -
Edvard Grieg
Peer Gynt, suite No. 1 op. 46/2, "Ases Tod"; “Anitra's Dance” -
Aram Khachaturian
Masquerade, “Waltz” -
Nat King Cole
Unforgettable (arr. Benjamien Lycke) -
Bobby McFerrin
Don't Worry Be Happy (arr. Benjamien Lycke)
Artists
- Gabriel Hollander conductor
- Helene Bracke concept, text, stage direction, mezzo
- Charles Dekeyser bass-baritone
- Tijl Wellens technique, light
- Evelyne Meersschaut costumes
- Anatoli Akerman clown
- Pablo Goovaerts García child actor
- Laure Vande Ginste child actress
With the support of
