CASSANDRA Foccroulle — La Monnaie / De Munt

Sandra divides her time between her research into the melting ice caps and stand-up comedy. Disturbed by the impact of human activity on the environment, she wants to use humour to raise awareness. But people around her, even her own family, are sceptical. Just as Cassandra predicted the fall of Troy without being heeded, Sandra predicts the imminent approach of a terrible tragedy but no one is listening. After La Monnaie’s Henry VIII, a hitherto little-known operatic treasure by Camille Saint-Saëns, it is a world premiere of their new opera that we are lucky enough to discover live on OperaVision. Belgian composer Bernard Foccroulle, former director of La Monnaie and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, has chosen a highly topical theme for his first opera: ecological activism in the face of societal inertia. Cassandra’s predictions may not have been heeded, but her story has been avidly read for over two thousand years. The Trojan prophetess has found her way into the collective consciousness