When opera came into being around 1600 in Florence, the humanists thought they had rediscovered ancient Greek theatre, because they thought Greek tragedies had been sung. In their nostalgic attempt to honour the past, they created a new form: an art that expresses deep human emotions through music. Like those early operas, Airs to Ash stems from a desire to reanimate an art form.

Director and self-made countertenor Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe is onstage himself along with two fascinating singers: legendary French countertenor Gérard Lesne, who at the age of 70 still has an unusually high range, and the South African Sanele Mwelase, representative of a young generation with a love for tradition that creates new stories.

Jozef Wouters’ Het Decoratelier is building a traveling theatre: a temporary structure, an opera ruin of the future where, together with a new cohort of musicians and four performance artists, an opera-happening takes place.

Meirhaeghe’s work often takes nostalgia as a starting point but turns against its paralyzing power. His fascination for the fire and reconstruction of the Notre Dame illustrates this clearly: whereas we restored what was lost, he also saw its ruins as an opening, a rare moment in which something else could have arisen. Instead of restoring and preserving, what if we were to build with what remains?

Airs to Ash promises to be a musical evening in which different generations come together and present a possible future. At a time when conservatism and an obsession with the past are gaining ground, the performance refuses to settle for mere preservation. Classical arias and new compositions form a series of vignettes, and in his characteristically boisterous style Meirhaeghe brings together music, visuals, movement and theatre. Airs to Ash is a reinterpretation of a cannon – not as heritage, but as living material.