Mavra & La Rondine Mavra & La Rondine

‘Perhaps, like the swallow, you will fly across the sea to a land full of light, full of dreams, towards the sun, towards Love,’ predicts the poet Prunier to Magda, a former courtesan who longs for a great, true love. That swallow, or ‘la rondine’, gave its name to a forgotten gem by Giacomo Puccini – often referred to as his La traviata. Even though Magda finds ‘the one’ in Ruggero, her past stands in the way of her building a safe nest.

Our Young Artists and the talented musicians of Youth Orchestra Flanders illuminate love in all its facets. In sharp contrast to Magda’s romantic dream of love stands the pragmatism of the village girl Parasja, who in Stravinsky’s comic one-act opera Mavra smuggles her lover, disguised as the new cook, into the home of her elderly, widowed mother.

Director Inne Goris, who previously explored youthful infatuation in Ophelia (2021), forges these two forgotten operas into a surprising, semi-staged production in which Ravel’s La Valse also makes an appearance. Both folksy and sophisticated, and imbued with a wealth of dance rhythms.

On Friday 23.04.2026 our Young Artists will give an additional performance of Mavra with Youth Orchestra Flanders at Concertgebouw Bruges during the Rimpelingen Festival. The evening will also feature works by Louis Andriessen and La Valse by Maurice Ravel.

Click here for more info & tickets.