Midsummer Mozartiade: Celebrating Mozart and the Labyrinth of Love in Brussels

From June 17 to 22, the Midsummer Mozartiade festival returns to the heart of Brussels for its ninth edition. This year, Mozart invites audiences to follow him—with their eyes blindfolded—through the unpredictable labyrinth of love, offering a program rich with concerts, lectures, serenades, and a major highlight: the opera Così fan tutte.

The festival’s centerpiece, Così fan tutte, will be performed on June 18, 20, and 22 at the Théâtre Royal des Galeries. This celebrated opera buffa, as witty as it is dramatic, presents a fresh take on the delightful and sometimes perilous game of love, masterfully crafted by Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The production is directed once more by multidisciplinary artist Eric Gobin, while Vahan Mardirossian, music director of the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, conducts his first Mozart opera.

Ket Mag asked three questions to the director of Così fan tutte, Eric Gobin.

1. How does Mozart’s Così fan tutte remain relevant today, especially in light of evolving social movements such as #MeToo and the growing critique of toxic masculinity?

We have noticed, particularly this year since this is a revival of a production created in 2018, how much the world has changed with the influence of #MeToo, the denunciation of machismo, and toxic behaviors. Working on the piece again, we realized that certain aspects of the work have become more striking, perhaps even more dramatic in a way. Of course, the opera is totally relevant because it deals with themes like partner-swapping, elective affinities—quoting Goethe—meaning physical or emotional attractions. In contrast to the couples at the start of Così, which are a bit conventional—‘it’s time to marry, let’s find a suitable girl or man’—we see that after a rather foolish bet, an exchange of partners happens that turns out to be more harmonious than the original couples. These are not only current themes, but eternal ones. They are part of human relationships

2. You have been involved in the Midsummer Mozartiade since its inception—now in its ninth edition. What makes presenting Mozart’s work in 2025 still feel fresh and meaningful for contemporary audiences, including the LGBT community

Like many great classical works—I think of Molière, Marivaux, authors like that—but especially Mozart, in the Da Ponte trilogy and throughout his oeuvre, explores eternal, human themes of relationships. There are never really black or white characters. All the characters are complex, just like human beings. There is rarely a real villain or someone who is entirely good, and I think this is something that can speak to everyone, and to our time in particular. It’s very typical of the 18th century in that it’s about the taste for analyzing feelings, especially romantic feelings. And it’s obviously very current because it calls for a psychological reflection that was psychological before its time in the 18th century, but is still relevant today. As for how it can attract the LGBT public, I think it does, because it’s about human beings. There are no explicitly homosexual relationships in any of Mozart’s operas, but you can recognize so much in terms of feelings, especially the feeling of love, which is analyzed in all its forms throughout Mozart’s works.

3. In your production, how do you highlight the psychological depth and timelessness of Mozart’s characters, who are neither entirely good nor bad, and how does this approach help connect the opera to modern audiences?

Mozart’s characters are complex, just like real people. There are no real villains or heroes, and this is something that can speak to everyone, especially today. The psychological depth of the characters, the way their emotions are explored—this is what makes Mozart’s work so timeless. His music and his librettos invite us to reflect on our own feelings and relationships. In our production, we try to bring out this complexity, to show that the characters are neither entirely good nor bad, but simply human. This approach helps the audience connect with the opera, because they recognize themselves in the characters and their dilemmas. Mozart’s exploration of human nature and his translation of feelings into music still resonate deeply with us today.

The cast features Cécile Lastchenko and Dorine Mortelmans in new roles, alongside colleagues reprising characters from previous years: Kamil Ben Hsaïn Lachiri (IMEP student), Kenny Ferreira (Studio Lyrique du PBA de Charleroi), Shadi Torbey, and Laura Telly Cambier, who steps in for the indisposed Laetitia Grimaldi—the latter two having participated in the festival’s 2018 edition.

On June 21, also at the Théâtre Royal des Galeries, the festival’s second highlight unfolds with a concert of Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer for four voices and piano four hands. These thirty-three miniature love songs, set to the rhythm of the waltz, echo the emotional twists and turns of Così fan tutte, as if Brahms had composed them for the same four lovers. The performers for this concert are Pauline Lebbe, Caroline de Mahieu, Mathis Van Cleynenbreugel, and Tom Van Bogaert, accompanied by pianists Stéphanie Salmin and Martin Gennen.

For those eager to deepen their understanding of Mozart’s comic opera, two lectures will take place on June 17 and 19 at the Maison CFC, Place des Martyrs, presented by Charles-Henry Boland and Manuel Couvreur. On the same days, the young musicians of the Udana Wind Quintet will delight passersby in the Galerie du Roi with two serenade concerts, blending works for wind ensemble from Mozart to the present day.

In July, Così fan tutte will embark on a tour, stopping at the Théâtre Royal de Mons for the Festival au Carré, and then at the Grand Manège in Namur for the Festival musical de Namur.

Organized by the non-profit association Amadeus & Co since 2016, the Midsummer Mozartiade aims to make opera—an art form that was popular at its origins—accessible to all. The festival also serves as an essential platform for emerging lyrical talents from Brussels and beyond, fostering the next generation of opera artists.