Christophe Coppens is back for his second NORMA at La Monnaie/De Munt Theatre as a costume and stage decor designer again!
Opera Norma was launched during the year Belgium gained its independence in 1831! Then it was a theatre revolution at La Scala, in Brussels at La Monnaie/De Munt it was a memorable political revolution initiated by the revolutionary opera piece! Now we have Belgium! And we have Belgian talents, who are making their own fashion revolutions!
Such as Christophe Coppens, a graduate of Brussels Royal Conservatory, where he studied stage and costume design then! After his studies he was a very successful fashion and accessories designer, an artist!
© photo Yelena Kharitonova
Next year will be 10 years that he is back to the theatre world and more specially to La Monnaie/De Munt Theater, being responsible for the overall costumes scenography there! I saw him at both premiers of Norma in 2021 and on the 9th of December 2025, siting near the former Artistic Director of the Opera Peter De Caluwe, who was present at the last premier of his last year in the Opera House!
He is also the one, who made this House revolutionary success during his 20 years of being the leading man of this top Institution!
I know Christophe Coppens personally for at least 15 years in a raw! I used to come to his ateliers at different locations in Brussels with my international designers, who came to Brussels for various educational programs! I know Christophe’s mother, who was the biggest inspiration for him and helped him a lot when he started his career as fashion and accessories designer! I do remember, how she kept repeating that his dream was working for the theatre at the end of the day! And look where he is now?! At the theatre, making us enjoy the scenography of each and every piece at La Monnaie/De Munt! This Theatre Temple got different artistic prizes!
© photo Yelena Kharitonova
In the last performances of Norma opera, Christophe Coppens used ordinary clothes, which you can find on the street, so we can feel and see that because of the costumes we can project the reality of 200 years Opera our our nowadays reality, which make it up to date and very relevant to the modern context and allow us to be associated with the scenes! Christophe Coppens is not afraid to experiment and make any piece up-to-date!
One of her reasons is its contemporary approach to the costumes and the stage decors, thanks to Christophe Coppens! This says a lot to us to follow our dreams and make it happen! Yes we can and we do!
