Hertog Blauwbaards castle

Katrien Baerts is Judith and Thomas E. Bauer is Bluebeard in this performance for ensemble of Bartók's only opera. Bartók wrote 'Hertog Blauwbaards burcht' in 1911 and thus perhaps signed for the first 'gothic' opera of the 20th century. For this new production, Oxalys commissioned Siebe Thijs, a rising star among Flemish composers, to create a transcription for ensemble of the entire opera. On top of all this musical violence, Lise Bruyneel brings a live film adaptation of this hallucinatory descent into the human psyche. Duke Bluebeard's castle has no windows, the walls cry. The building sighs, breathes, and groans like a living body. Judith is nothing more than the voice of Bluebeard's wounded subconscious. Or that of Béla Bartók? Bartók composed his only opera in 1911 to a Hungarian libretto by Béla Balázs. The result was much darker and more split than the original fairy tale by Charles Perrault. Building on a long tradition of filmed versions of this opera, this production presents a musical arrangement for ensemble by Siebe Thijs, with a video performance by Lise Bruyneel. We follow Judith live as she wanders through the castle, experience her wanderings on the stairs, her fears, her hesitations, her determination. Together with her, we discover the enigma of the closed doors and discover unexpected worlds in bright colors, before returning to endless corridors. The sigh, the lament, is a recurring motif in Bartók's opera. At the request of Oxalys, composer-arranger Siebe Thijs wrote a short pre-overture, a chamber music pendant, in which he analyzes the sigh motif and places it in a conceptual context. Programma Siebe Thijs - sighs, breaths, whispers, moans (world premiere) (2026) for flute, clarinet, viola & percussion Béla Bartók - Hertog Blauwbaards burcht (1911) (arr. Siebe Thijs - 2026) for soprano and bass, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, harp & 2 percussionists Mezzosopraan Katrien Baerts | Bas Thomas E. Bauer | Ensemble Oxalys | Dirigent Johannes Witt | Composer-arranger Siebe Thijs | Live video Lise Bruyneel