With Madame Bovary, Flaubert caused a literary revolution in the mid-19th century. The story of an adulterous doctor’s wife who takes her own life sent shockwaves through France, even leading to a lawsuit. Until today, Emma Bovary fascinates readers as we empathise with her heralded demise. Perhaps there’s a Madame Bovary in all of us – “Madame Bovary, c’est moi”?

Michael De Cock, Carme Portaceli and scenographer Marie Szersnovicz continue their search for the soul of Bovary. Who was she, and who could she be today? What crushing emptiness drives her to despair? And are women today seen more, and in a better light, than in author Gustave Flaubert’s (occasionally erotic) projection? One thing is certain: la Bovary continues to fascinate us and speak to our imagination. The play, which toured Barcelona, Madrid, and Paris, and was turned into a film by Jaco Van Dormael, focused on the couple; in this opera version, we see an even lonelier Emma Bovary. All alone opposite a 16-strong choir, which watches, judges, and condemns her. And while in the play, like in the novel, a contemporary version of Charles took the stage, it’s now daughter Berthe’s turn to create space for herself and her voice.

By invitation of La Monnaie, the Belgian composer Harold Noben was commissioned. He is a musical wizard who knows how to charm both audiences and the specialist press with scores that are attractive, profound, and accessible. Driven by their joint love of Madame Bovary, Harold Noben and Michael De Cock collaborate for the first time to create this contemporary interpretation of Emma’s story. And like Flaubert, they might say: 

"Why castigate the passions? Are they not the only beautiful thing there is on earth, the source of heroism, enthusiasm, poetry, music, art and of everything?"