La Monnaie - Direction

Direction

During the 1980s Gerard Mortier was general director of la Monnaie. Bernard Foccroulle succeeded Mortier in 1991 and served for fifteen seasons, maintaining and even expanding the reputation Mortier had gained in the 1980s. The current general director is Peter de Caluwe.

Music Directors of la Monnaie have always played a major role in the musical life of Belgium, since the orchestra also performed in regularly organised concerts, and the quality of the orchestra reached a peak at the end of the 19th century under the baton of composer and musicologist Sylvain Dupuis. La Monnaie gave regular performances of the major works of Richard Wagner as well. During the late 19th century, important French composers such as Jules Massenet and Vincent d'Indy directed the world premières of some of their operas at this theatre. The high musical quality of renditions was maintained under Corneil de Thoran between the two World Wars, but diminished gradually from the 1950s onwards.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Gérard Mortier engaged the French conductor Sylvain Cambreling as La Monnaie's music director, and Cambreling restored the playing of the orchestra to its former level. Antonio Pappano became music director in 1991, and during his tenure, the symphonic repertoire of the orchestra was further extended and it appeared more often in concerts outside the opera. In addition, Pappano made several recordings with the orchestra. He left in 2002 to become Music Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. Since 2002, the Japanese conductor Kazushi Ono has served as music director. At the end of the 2007-2008 season, Ono was scheduled to relinquish his position as la Monnaie music director to Mark Wigglesworth, with Ono and Wigglesworth working together in the 2007-2008 season. However, in April 2008, La Monnaie announced that Wigglesworth would not take up the post of music director, after reports of opposition to him from the orchestra. In June 2011, the company announced the appointment of Ludovic Morlot as its next music director, as of the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 5 years.

For performances of Baroque operas, la Monnaie mostly engages guest orchestras specialising in authentic performances on period instruments. Over the past decades René Jacobs and his Concerto Vocale have been regular guests at the theatre.