‘Nora Gubisch & Alain Altinoglu’

She is one of the most sought-after French mezzos, and he is one of the most prominent conductors of the day. And yet, despite their busy schedules, they now and then make time to return to their musical first love: the lied. Nora Gubisch and Alain Altinoglu open the recital series with a programme that reads like a synopsis of the start of the season at La Monnaie. With the world creations of Pascal Dusapin and Benjamin Attahir still fresh in the audience’s memory, they explore how both composers bring the French lied into the twenty-first century. But homage will  also be paid to the full-blooded romanticism of Richard Strauss – a key figure in the symphonic concerts of La Monnaie – and of Johannes Brahms. Altogether, an hour and a half of vocal fireworks, courtesy of a musical power couple.