Art Happens

Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe (be)

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© Eva Donckers

Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe (°Eine, Brussels, 1995) is a countertenor, performer and director of operatic sound and visual performances. For him, the theater is an echo chamber in which old and new times can be brought together. He is fascinated by the future, and the evolutions and revolutions yet to come. Without wishing to oppose the preservation of the existing repertoire, Meirhaeghe sees it as a challenge to combine classical fragments with new symbols and radical sounds. He makes mysterious and contemporary rituals that can reconnect with the life he knows, with real emotions, with our experiences and the political thinking of today.

His thinking about music theater and performance and letting a vision resonate in his work, originated within Toneelacademie Maastricht. He graduated in 2018 with The Ballet (in collaboration with Vooruit, Opera Vlaanderen, De Munt and NTGent), a performance he created together with dancer and muze Emiel Vandenberghe (Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe). The work shows the suffering and the separation of two lovers and performers.He found his way into opera, not coincidentally the medium where both art forms come together. At Opera Ballet Vlaanderen he created A Revue in 2020, a visually stunning spectacle show which was selected for FlemishTheaterFestival 2021.

In 2021 Meirhaeghe made the ritual concert Spectacles, where he turns, together with producer Laurens Mariën and dancer Hanako Hayakawa, a concert into a theatrical experience. 

MADRIGALS premiered on January 21, 2022. Meirhaeghe molds Claudio Monteverdi’s Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi, and he dares to mix it with the experimental pop of Jesse Kanda, who collaborates with Björk, Arca and FKA Twigs. 

In September 2021, Meirhaeghe opened the opening show of Berlin Fashion Week directed by Etienne Rosso. He also gave the MOMU exhibition E/MOTION a performative character. 

Meirhaeghe is has been part of the artistic direction of Toneelhuis since season 22-23.

Here, his new creation Shelly Shonk Fiffit will premiere in January 2024. Inspired by the cosmos, the James Webb Space Telescope and driven by the hypnotic electronic music of Caterina Barbieri, Shelly Shonk Fiffit will become an intense and ecstatic visual and musical trip.

In November 2023 his creation Death Drive: Everything Everyone Ever Did (2023) premiered at the Volksbühne in Berlin.

DatePerformanceCity CountryOrganisation/Venue
21.03.2024Shelly Shonk Fiffit The Hague (nl)Het Nationale Theater
27.03.2024Shelly Shonk Fiffit Douai (fr)TANDEM scène national Arras-Douai
30.03.2024Shelly Shonk Fiffit Brussels (be)KVS
03.04.2024Shelly Shonk Fiffit Amsterdam (nl)Internationaal Theater Amsterdam
09.04.2024MADRIGALS Breda (nl)Chassé Theater
01.06.2024A Revue Hannover (de)KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen
02.06.2024A Revue Hannover (de)KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen
10.02.2024Shelly Shonk FiffitGhent (be)NTGent
09.02.2024Shelly Shonk FiffitGhent (be)NTGent
07.02.2024Shelly Shonk FiffitRotterdam (nl)Theater Rotterdam
30.01.2024Shelly Shonk FiffitGroningen (nl)SPOT / Stadsschouwburg
25.01.2024Shelly Shonk FiffitAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
24.01.2024Shelly Shonk FiffitAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
20.01.2024Shelly Shonk FiffitAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
18.01.2024Shelly Shonk Fiffit  (premiere)Antwerp (be)Toneelhuis
26.07.2023MADRIGALSVienna (at)ImPulsTanz
24.07.2023MADRIGALSVienna (at)ImPulsTanz
21.07.2023SpectaclesVienna (at)ImPulsTanz
30.06.2023A RevueParis (fr)La Villette
29.06.2023A RevueParis (fr)La Villette
28.06.2023A RevueParis (fr)La Villette
14.06.2023SpectaclesLjubljana (si)Spider Festival
12.05.2023MADRIGALSStrasbourg (fr)Le Maillon
11.05.2023MADRIGALSStrasbourg (fr)Le Maillon
15.04.2023MADRIGALSParis (fr)La Villette
14.04.2023MADRIGALSParis (fr)La Villette
05.04.2023MADRIGALSDouai (fr)TANDEM scène national Arras-Douai
04.04.2023MADRIGALSDouai (fr)TANDEM scène national Arras-Douai
08.03.2023Ode to a Love LostThe Hague (nl)Het Nationale Theater/Koninklijke Schouwburg
23.02.2023Ode to a Love LostOstend (be)CC De Grote Post
17.02.2023SpectaclesBerlin (de)Komische Oper Berlin
15.02.2023Ode to a Love LostRotterdam (nl)Theater Rotterdam
07.02.2023Ode to a Love LostAmsterdam (nl)Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam
06.02.2023Ode to a Love LostAmsterdam (nl)Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam
03.02.2023Ode to a Love LostZaventem (be)CC De Factorij
29.01.2023Ode to a Love LostAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
28.01.2023Ode to a Love LostAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
27.01.2023Ode to a Love LostAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
26.01.2023Ode to a Love LostAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
25.01.2023Ode to a Love LostAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
21.01.2023Ode to a Love LostAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
20.01.2023Ode to a Love LostAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
19.01.2023Ode to a Love Lost  (premiere)Antwerp (be)Toneelhuis
30.10.2022MADRIGALSAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
29.10.2022MADRIGALSAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
26.10.2022A RevueAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
25.10.2022A RevueAntwerp (be)Toneelhuis
06.10.2022SpectaclesTongeren (be)De Velinx
27.09.2022MADRIGALSRome (it)Romaeuropa Festival
28.05.2022MADRIGALSRotterdam (nl)O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre.
27.05.2022MADRIGALSRotterdam (nl)O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre.
19.03.2022MADRIGALSBruges (be)Concertgebouw
18.03.2022SpectaclesAntwerp (be)Trix
25.02.2022SpectaclesMechelen (be)Kunstencentrum nona
19.02.2022SpectaclesWaregem (be)CC De Schakel
15.02.2022SpectaclesGhent (be)Handelsbeurs
05.02.2022SpectaclesTielt (be)Theater Malpertuis
21.01.2022MADRIGALSAntwerp (be)DE SINGEL
13.11.2021SpectaclesKortrijk (be)NEXT
09.10.2021A RevueRotterdam (nl)Theater Rotterdam
07.10.2021SpectaclesBrussels (be)Pilar
12.09.2021A RevueAntwerp (be)Het TheaterFestival/DE SINGEL
10.09.2021SpectaclesThe Hague (nl)Rewire
09.09.2021SpectaclesBrussels (be)AB
29.08.2021SpectaclesGhent (be)Bijloke Wonderland
28.08.2021SpectaclesGhent (be)Bijloke Wonderland
26.06.2021A RevueAntwerp (be)DE SINGEL
25.06.2021A RevueAntwerp (be)DE SINGEL
10.06.2021SpectaclesLeuven (be)Kunstencentrum STUK
15.10.2020A Revue  (premiere)Ghent (be)VIERNULVIER/Opera Gent
14.10.2020A Revue  (premiere)Ghent (be)VIERNULVIER/Opera Gent