Fantastical & surreal: Thaddeus Strassberger’s vision of Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini in Brussels anchored by a heroic performance from tenor John Osborn

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – Final scene – La Monnaie/De Munt (Photo: Simon Van Rompay)

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini; John Osborn, Ruth Iniesta, Florence Losseau, Tijl Faveyts, Jean-Sebastian Bou, Ante Jerkunica, director: Thaddeus Strassberger, conductor Alain Altinoglu; La Monnaie/De Munt, Brussels
Reviewed 8 Feburary 2026

A fine cast brings life to Thaddeus Strasberger’s fantastical and surreal vision of Berlioz’ first opera, in its Paris version, balancing the light-hearted with the more thoughtful act of creation with a heroic performance from tenor John Osborn.

In both of his large-scale operas, Benvenuto Cellini and Les Troyens, Berlioz challenged the form of French grand opera, both musically and dramatically. It was a form aligned to the tastes middle class audience of Restoration Paris and to the formal structures of the Paris Opera company.

Both Fromental Halévy, with La Juive in 1835, and Meyerbeer, with Les Huguenots in 1836 and Le prophète in 1849, challenged the socio-political boundaries of the time, exploring historical subjects that put contemporary society under the microscope. Yet neither composer made comparable musical challenges in their operas.

By contrast, Berlioz wrote for himself, for posterity, with little thought to making the work suitable for the Paris Opera. Benvenuto Cellini was premiered at the Paris Opera in 1838 and it failed. It would not be performed again until Franz Liszt revived Berlioz’ substantially revised version in Weimar in 1851. 

La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels is known for its explorations of French grand opera so the fact that the company had not so far performed Benvenuto Cellini was a surprise. This lack has been rectified with a new production by Thaddeus Strassberger, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, that opened on 23 January 2026. We caught the fifth performance on 8 February. The production was designed and directed by Strassberger with costumes by Giuseppe Palella, lighting by Driscoll Otto, video by Greg Emetaz and dramagurgy by Sebastien Herbecq.

Cellini was played by American tenor John Osborn, one of the go-to singers for the role at the moment. Teresa was Spanish soprano Ruth Iniesta with Florence Losseau as Ascanio, Tijl Faveyts as Balducci, Jean-Sebastian Bou as Ferramosca and Ante Jerkunica as the Pope.

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – Cellini (John Osborn) & the ‘Muses’ – La Monnaie/De Munt (Photo: Simon Van Rompay)

Strassberger’s fantastic take on the opera inhabited a fantasy world that took elements of late 19th and early 20th century Italian imperial reimaginings of the Roman Empire and fused them via a very 21st century imagination alongside suggestions of 1970s Italian cinema and the work of artists Pierre et Gilles.

A central set on a revolve provided the necessary movement and flexibility. This was a production that flowed, something always happening, with a group of 11 actors and dancers always on the go. That said, the blocking was cleverly organised so that in the challenging choral scenes, the chorus remained relatively static. The result was visually rich and inventive, mirroring Berlioz’ score. 

Perhaps too much so at times. There were few moments of pause, though Cellini’s two great solos, thankfully, allowed the focus to settle on Osborn.

Strassberger injected the work with so many ideas that at times the stage picture was bewildering, though the innate humour of his approach certainly helped.  The over-egged nature of the staging meant that scenes could have myriad details that were in danger of going unnoticed and were full of references too fleeting to place. There was also the feeling that Strassberger included rather too many in-jokes. The work’s two finales, the Carnival in Act One and the casting of Perseus in Act Two, should form the climaxes, theatrically and musically. But here, the stage was busy from the word go with little sense of a build-up to each finale. Also, the casting scene in Act Two seemed to lack both musical and dramatic tensions.

One of Strassberger’s overaching ideas was the presence of four of the Muses. Played by actors/dancers, they were the embodiment of statues animated in the opening video, linking the staging directly to the architecture of the Brussels’ opera house. The four took on an active role in Cellini’s imaginative life, encouraging him and making sure his artistic endeavours were on track. Another parallel thread was the way either Cellini or the Muses hit on a seemingly random character (played by the same dancer each time) to embody Perseus, each time with fewer clothes until he became the naked statue in the closing scene of the opera.

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – Carnival scene – La Monnaie/De Munt (Photo: Simon Van Rompay)

The pantomime during the Carnival was expanded by a spoken scene between three extravagantly costumed drage queens (including Aleksei von Wosylius and Florian Poullet-La Veuve) that was mildly amusing at first but rather overstayed its welcome.

John Osborn made a solid Cellini. Heroic of tone and less devil-may-care than expected, he formed a firm focus around which the staging flowed. Perhaps during his Act Two solo there were hints of tiredness but this was an impressive and engaging account of an ‘impossible’ role. Throughout he sang with a fine sense of line and complete fearlessness for the role’s tessitura and complexity. He held our attention and made us care for this rather slap-dash artist. The work’s focus on artistic creation was something that neither Strassberger nor Osborn let us forget.

Ruth Iniesta made a stylish and poised Teresa. She was less the ingenue and more a confident young woman with a sense of style that seemed to come out of 1970s Italian cinema (and perhaps we should look there for some of Strassberger’s other inspirations in the opera). There was a strong lyric core to Iniesta’s voice and her approach to the music was fearless. The result was both musical and captivating. Florence Losseau, complete with moustache and beard, made a delightful Ascanio. Her two solos were both high-points, though having her Act Two solo done whilst relaxing on the beach seemed somewhat overdone.

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – Cellini (John Osborn) & Teresa (Ruth Iniesta), opening of Act Two – La Monnaie/De Munt (Photo: Simon Van Rompay)

Tijl Faveyts (who was announced as recovering from illness) brought a strong sense of character and gift for comedy to the role of Balducci. His version of the character was no fool, but still self absorbed and funny. Looking a bit like a lower-class civil servant in a three-piece suit, Jean-Sebastian Bou’s Fierramosca never understood how he failed to measure up either as Teresa’s lover or as an artist. It says something for Bou’s still that we laughed and felt sorry. Ante Jerkunica made a commanding Pope, musically and visually. A tall man with the voice to match, Jerkunica made this Pope not a little camp too. Delightful.

The smaller roles were all very well taken and each vividly characterised. Luis Aguilar and Leander Carlier were lively and vigorous fun as Cellini’s side-kicks, Francesco and Bernardino. Gabriel Nani was a fierce Pompeo, here the proprietor of a Porchetteria stall which made all the by-play with sharp blades understandable in contex. Yves Saelins made the most of his moment as Le Cabaretier. 

Strassberger’s overal vision of the work seemed to take on a surreal, overheated feel with the heightened sense of a 1970s film. It is to the cast’s credit that they never managed to get lost within this melange and that character and musicality counted.

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – Carnival scene – La Monnaie/De Munt (Photo: Simon Van Rompay)

The chorus was on terrific form. Berlioz writes extensively for them and gives the singers plenty of challenges. All finely conquered in a performance notable for rich, warm tone.

In the pit Alain Altinoglu revelled in the luxuriance of Berlioz’ orchestral wriring. This was Berlioz writing for the orchestra of the Paris Opera, the largest and greatest orchestral machine of its time, complete with four bassoons, four harps and plenty of brass and percussion. Altinoglu managed to keep the music’s fleetness and for all the moments of grandeur, this performance was relatively light on its feet. Altinoglu is an experienced Berliozian and is approach to the work kept the music flowing whilst revelling in the detail.

The version used was Paris 2, the revised, post-censor version that was actually staged [Paris 1 is the opera as first delivered by Berlioz]. Altinoglu argues, in the programme book, that Paris 2 is the most coherent dramatcally. Discuss! But we should be thankful that the Weimar version was not chosen.

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – John Osborn – La Monnaie/De Munt (Photo: Simon Van Rompay)

The finest Cellini I have ever heard was Giuseppe Sabbatini who cut a lithe and elegant figure in Colin Davis’ 1999 performance with the LSO [alas not released on LSO Live]. The challenge of the role remains one of the the reasons why the opera is not performed too often. Recent European performances have relied heavily on the talents of both John Osborn and Michael Spyres, and I do hope that there are other, younger tenors waiting in the wings.