Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe (be)
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 part of the artistic direction of Toneelhuis since season 22-23.