Einstein on the Beach
Collegium Vocale, Ictus & Moor Mother
- Available soon €15.00
- 20:00
- NTGent Schouwburg
“These Are the Days, My Friend.” Collegium Vocale, Ictus and Moor Mother make time tangible in a musical trip that stays with you.
Emerging in the mid-1970s, Einstein on the Beach marked a radical break with what opera had been until then. Philip Glass and Robert Wilson did not create a piece about Einstein’s life, but about time, thought and perception. No plot, no psychology. Instead: counting, pulse, repetition. Numbers are spoken. Musical figures return with slight shifts. Scenes follow one another without explanation or resolution.
Collegium Vocale Gent and Ictus take on the work’s precision collectively, under the direction of Tom De Cock. The music demands exact counting, close listening and constant adjusting. Moor Mother joins them, intervening in the score with text and voice. Drawing from poetry, hip hop and experimental sound, she places language against the work’s strict patterns, cutting through repetition with a presence that is direct, poetic and grounded in the present.
Three months before the premiere of the work in 1976, Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich also had its premiere, another piece grounded in pulse and gradual change. Together, they mark a moment when composers ceased to ask what music means, and began to ask what it does to perception over time. On Saturday 26 September, you can experience Music for 18 Musicians live during the festival.
Today, fifty years on, both works remain precise in their effect. They shift how time is felt, shared, and sustained. A trip through duration, in which time loosens, stretches and briefly lets go of you.
Programme
Einstein on the Beach
based on a concept by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass
Philip Glass, music
Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson en Lucinda Childs, texts
Performers
Moor Mother, narrator
Elisabet Rapp, sopraan
Collegium Vocale Gent
Ictus
Tom De Cock, conductor
Practical information
Date: Wednesday 16 September 2026
Address: Sint-Baafsplein 17, 9000 Ghent
Ticket prices
Rang 1 32 euro
Rang 2 22 euro
Rang 3 15 euro
JongFest Ticket (-26) 10 euro
UiTPAS reduced price Tickets Gent
Timing
19:15 Doors open
20:00 Start performance
23:30 Expected end
There is no intermission.
During the performance, the doors of the concert hall will remain open and the audience is free to move in and out.
There are toilets available at the venue, including accessible facilities.
A cloakroom is also available.
Accessibility
The venue is wheelchair accessible. Assistance dogs are welcome. If desired, staff members are available to guide you to your seat.
If you require additional or specific assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us via toegankelijkheid@festival.be or +32 9 243 94 94 so we can provide the necessary support.
You can find more information about the accessibility of the venue on this page.
Getting there
The nearest bicycle parking facilities are located in Lange Kruisstraat and Maaseikstraat.
The Gent Vogelmarkt tram stop is a 6-minute walk away.
Travel by train: book your Bravo! Ticket at a discounted rate via the NMBS.
More information about access to the venue can be found here.
Plan your visit
More useful tips for planning your visit to Flanders Festival Ghent can be found here.