“Big feelings, small voices, one powerful project.”

A heart-warming family concert about the beauty of grief and the inseparable love connected to it. The Belgian National Orchestra brings solace and joy with orchestral music by Purcell, Khachaturian and Saint-Saëns, arias by Mozart, Thomas and also music by Sinatra and Bobby McFerrin.​

Do you believe in life after death?
       -Yes, I do, in that way, death scares me less.
Oh, then I believe in it too.

With tenderness, honesty and humor, this production opens up a difficult subject. In preparation, we spoke with children about life, death, and loss. These playful, heartfelt conversations were recorded and transformed into audio collages and form the heart of the performance.

“Told by children. Sung with love. Made for all.”

On stage we have an orchestra, the grandma, the dad, and a clown! Physical actor Anatoli Akerman (Cirque du Soleil, Circus Roncalli, Walt Disney), with his subtle antics, strikes a perfect balance between sorrow and entertainment, between mourning and laughter.

ARTICLES
www.nationalorchestra.be/nl/nieuws-verhalen/helene-bracke-i-want-to-put-the-fun-in-funeral

https://www.cultuuroptil.be/inspiratie/a-la-vie-a-la-mort​

CREDITS 

Helene Bracke | Concept, text and staging
Anatoli Akerman | Clown
Helene Bracke | Grandmother (Mezzo-soprano)
Charles Dekeyser | Father (Bass-Baritone)
Pablo Goovaerts García | Original child voice actor (FR)
Laure Vande Ginste | Original child voice actor (NL)
Tijl Wellens | Set design
Tijl Wellens | Audio (Pre-production & live show)
Ruben Cuyvers | Lighting Design
Evelyne Meersschaut | Costumes

Special thanks to VZW Missing You, VZW Internationaal Comité, Joëlle Charlier, Freya Segers, Mien Bogaert, and
all the children who philosophized and imagined with us.

Commissioned by the Belgian National Orchestra.
Produced by vzw The Butter Effect, BNO and BOZAR.
Created with support from Flanders State of the Art.