libretto, stage direction and set: Mien Bogaert — composition and video: Benjamien Lycke
About the opera
CRASH FLIGHT is a new opera about human ambition, artificial intelligence, and the search for meaning in a world on the brink of collapse.
Soprano Emma Posman stars as La Giuditta, a world-famous art-pop diva returning to the stage after seven years. With her Butler (bass-baritone Timotheus Maas) and a virtual assistant (actress Hannah Snow) at her side, she delivers a dazzling concert-performance exploring the legacy of female performers throughout history. But when her partner Bluebeard (baritone Julian Arsenault) confronts her with the disruptive influence of AI on her music, her triumphant comeback begins to spiral out of control.
In Act II, the focus shifts to Bluebeard — a Silicon Valley visionary with Faustian ambition. On a one-way mission to Mars, he turns his livestream into a platform for three unsettling confessions. When machines inherit our reason, will humans reclaim only passion — the urge to love, to kill, to crash — and call it freedom?
The music is performed by three of Belgium’s leading chamber ensembles — Desguin Kwartet, Kugoni Trio, and Ataneres — who appear on stage as visible agents in the drama. Fast, fractured, and multilingual in form, CRASH FLIGHT combines classical music, opera, electronics, and video into an immersive stage experience.
Creative team
- Benjamien Lycke — composition, video
- Mien Bogaert — libretto, stage direction, set
- Dennis Peschke — costumes
Cast
- Kugoni Trio, Ataneres, Desguin Kwartet
- Emma Posman — La Giuditta
- Timotheus Maas — Butler
- Julian Arsenault — Bluebeard
- Hannah Snow — The Core
- Lillian Liu — Mission Commentator 1
- Michiel Van Hende — Mission Commentator 2
- Marjolijn Gijbels — extra
Production & technical team
- Marjolijn Gijbels — stage direction assistance
- Isabell Post — costume assistance
- Ruben Cuyvers — light
- Lukas Proot — video and light technician
- Sarah De Meester — subtitling
- Bart Bogaert — set design assistance
Performances
- September 7, 2025 — Theater Tinnenpot Ghent (try-out)
- October 25, 2025 — Stadsschouwburg Bruges
- November 14, 2025 — 30CC Leuven
A SYNART production in co-production with Serenata, with the support of the Flemish Government, Sabam for Culture, and the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government. Multilingual performance with Dutch surtitles. Photos: © Bram Van Eenoo.
Images
Credits
