A matter of triumph and void

For this semi-staged concert, SPECTRA and the International Opera Academy partner up once more – this time, painting a portrait of Wim Henderickx, one of Flanders’ most acclaimed composers. The starting point for the performance are two contrasting music theatre works: one, a fast-moving opera with libretto by Johan Thielemans, and two, a slow, meditative piece of musical theatre.

In ‘Triumph of Spirit over Matter’, the characters journey with us through an unhinged world in which every extreme touches its opposite: artistic integrity meets cynical mercantilism, authentic genius meets horse-trading in forgery, self-sacrifice meets disdain. But at everyone’s core, purity and depravity meet, and creative and destructive urges take turns in triumphing.

Henderickx’ composition ‘Sunyata’ (emptiness) is the basis for ‘Void’, an inner quest for meaning and religion, inspired by Eastern and Western mysticism. Here, the Buddhist shri yantra is the structural guideline.

Do all opposites meet?