Director and self-made countertenor Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe is onstage himself along with two fascinating singers: legendary French countertenor Gérard Lesne, who at the age of 70 still has an unusually high range, and the South African Sanele Mwelase, representative of a young generation with a love for tradition that creates new stories. Jozef Wouters’ Het Decoratelier is building a traveling theatre: a temporary structure, an opera ruin of the future where, together with a new cohort of musicians and four performance artists, an opera-happening takes place. Meirhaeghe’s work often takes nostalgia as a starting point but turns against its paralyzing power. His fascination for the fire and reconstruction of the Notre Dame illustrates this clearly: whereas we restored what was lost, he also saw its ruins as an opening, a rare moment in which something else could have arisen. Instead of restoring and preserving, what if we were to build with what remains? Airs to Ash promises to be a musical evening in which different generations come together and present a possible future. At a time when conservatism and an obsession with the past are gaining ground, the performance refuses to settle for mere preservation. Classical arias and new compositions form a series of vignettes, and in his characteristically boisterous style Meirhaeghe brings together music, visuals, movement and theatre. Airs to Ash is a reinterpretation of a cannon – not as heritage, but as living material.

‍