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Benvenuto Cellini: Strassberger loses the plot, but La Monnaie still makes beautiful music

John Osborn (Benvenuto Cellini)
© Simon Van Rompay
Ruth Iniesta (Teresa)
© Simon Van Rompay
Jean-Sébastien Bou (Fieramosca)
© Simon Van Rompay
John Osborn (Benvenuto Cellini) and Ruth Iniesta (Teresa)
© Simon Van Rompay
Benvenuto Cellini
© Simon Van Rompay
Benvenuto Cellini, finale
© Simon Van Rompay
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“a cacophony of other visual elements that present no clear relation”
Reviewed at La Monnaie | De Munt: Grand Hall, Brussels on 28 January 2026
Berlioz, Benvenuto Cellini
Alain Altinoglu, Conductor
Thaddeus Strassberger, Director, Set Designer
Giuseppe Palella, Costume Designer
Driscoll Otto, Lighting Designer
La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra
La Monnaie Chorus
Sébastien Herbecq, Dramaturgy
John Osborn, Benvenuto Cellini
Tijl Faveyts, Giacomo Balducci
Jean-Sébastien Bou, Fieramosca
Ante Jerkunica, Pope Clement VII
Luis Aguilar, Francesco
Leander Carlier, Bernardino
Gabriele Nani, Pompeo
Yves Saelens, An innkeeper
Ruth Iniesta, Teresa
Florence Losseau, Ascanio
La Monnaie Choral Academy
Emmanuel Trenque, Choirmaster / chorus director
Antonio Barone, Assistant Choreographer and Director
Verdi caught in La Monnaie's revolving door
**111
Mixed messages lost in the medium: Foccroulle's Cassandra
**111
Black Swan: Barbara Hannigan returns in Warlikowski's Lulu
*****
Portals into the surreal in La Monnaie's The Turn of the Screw
****1
Listen with Mother: Tsar Saltan as autism parable at La Monnaie
*****
Black gold: Rimsky-Korsakov in Brussels
****1
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