Discover Andriessen’s De Materie in a streaming from Opera Ballet Vlaanderen

Opera Ballet Vlaanderen brings Louis Andriessen’s four-part work to the screen in a production directed by Phia Ménard and conducted by Bas Wiegers, with Ictus joining the company’s orchestra.

The work: De Materie, by Louis Andriessen
Company: Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
Conductor: Bas Wiegers
Stage director: Phia Ménard
Performers: Robin Tritschler, Katrien Baerts, Lies Pauwels, Samantha Hines and Ausia Jones; dancers and Symphony Orchestra of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen; Ictus
Recorded: September 24, 2026
Streaming premiere: November 6, 2026, at 19:00 CET / 18:00 GMT
Available until: May 6, 2027, at 12:00 CET, as listed by the platform
Languages: Dutch, English and French
Subtitles: Dutch and English

Four perspectives on mind and matter

A philosopher’s theory of atoms, a mystic’s vision of God, a painter’s passion for dancing and a scientist’s encounter with loss: Louis Andriessen brings these seemingly distant worlds together in De Materie. Its four independent sections explore the relationship between the physical world and the life of the mind through figures including the philosopher David van Goorle, Hadewijch of Antwerp, Piet Mondrian and Marie Curie.

Commissioned by the Holland Festival and De Nederlandse Opera, the work was completed in 1988 and first staged by Robert Wilson in 1989. Andriessen departed from conventional operatic forces, writing for soprano, tenor, two speakers, eight voices and a large ensemble with a prominent role for percussion and saxophones. The musical landscape draws together Bach, Stravinsky and American minimalism, alongside boogie-woogie and disco.

Music in motion

For this Opera Ballet Vlaanderen production, Phia Ménard directs and creates a changing scenic environment, with a concept developed alongside Jan Martens. Dance forms an integral part of the staging, including choreography for the Mondrian section by Antonio de Rosa and Mattia Russo, the duo behind KOR’SIA.

Bas Wiegers conducts the company’s Symphony Orchestra alongside the Brussels contemporary music ensemble Ictus. Robin Tritschler appears as Gorlæus, Katrien Baerts as Hadewijch and Lies Pauwels as Marie Curie, in a work that moves between intellectual inquiry, spiritual intensity and the physical energy of dance.