Louis Andriessen's De Materie Streams Free on OperaVision

OperaVision streams Louis Andriessen's De Materie free on Friday 6 November 2026 at 19:00 CET (18:00 London, 13:00 New York). The production comes from Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, conducted by Bas Wiegers.

The work has a pedigree worth spelling out. The Holland Festival and De Nederlandse Opera commissioned it; Andriessen completed the score in 1988, and Robert Wilson staged the premiere a year later. Nearly four decades on, it still refuses to behave like an opera.

What makes De Materie unusual?

Andriessen wrote it on his own terms. No opera chorus. No standard orchestra. Instead: a tenor, a soprano, two speakers, eight voices and a large ensemble heavy on percussion and saxophones.

The musical references pile up cheerfully. Bach and Stravinsky meet Steve Reich, boogie-woogie and disco. It was avant-garde at the time of its premiere — with music that swings. That combination, rigorous and danceable at once, remains Andriessen's signature.

For conductor Bas Wiegers, one passage stands above the rest. He calls Hadewijch's visions "the most beautiful notes Andriessen ever wrote."

Who are the four central figures?

De Materie is a four-part meditation on the meeting of mind and matter. Each part stands alone and centres on one historical figure:

• A 17th-century philosopher who argues that all matter is made of indivisible atoms
• The mystic Hadewijch of Antwerp, seized by a vision of God
• The painter Piet Mondrian, who also happened to dance the boogie-woogie
• Marie Curie, researching radioactivity despite the loss of her husband Pierre

It's quite a guest list. Atomism, mysticism, abstraction and radioactivity, arranged as four self-contained panels — closer to a triptych with an extra wing than a conventional night at the opera.

Who is staging it in Flanders?

Opera Ballet Vlaanderen fields its own company orchestra alongside Ictus, the Brussels contemporary music ensemble. Phia Ménard directs and designs a scenography that moves with the piece. KOR'SIA created the choreography for the Mondrian movement — the section where the painter's boogie-woogie habit becomes literal movement.

The combination is promising. Ménard's theatre works with matter and transformation; Andriessen's score asks exactly what matter is. The fit looks less like a coincidence than an argument.

When and how to watch

The stream runs Friday 6 November 2026, 19:00 CET, 18:00 London time, 13:00 New York. The broadcast reaches viewers through OperaVision, the free streaming platform, courtesy of the partnership announced for this release.

For anyone who has never heard Andriessen live — or streamed — this is the economical way in. Four minds, four matters, one evening, no ticket required.