Vlaamse Opera

Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (Dutch; "Opera Ballet Flanders") is an opera and ballet company in Belgium directed by Jan Vandenhouwe. It operates in two different opera houses in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Antwerp. However, the company shares one orchestra, choir, ballet company, technical team, etc. The organization is mainly financed by the Flemish government and the city councils of Antwerp and Ghent.

Opera Ballet Vlaanderen emerged from a fusion between The Flemish Opera (Vlaamse Opera) and the Royal Ballet of Flanders (Ballet Vlaanderen) in 2014. The Royal Ballet of Flanders was founded in 1969. The Flemish Opera was created in 1996 as a successor to the Flemish Opera Foundation (Vlaamse Opera Stichting, which had existed since 1988), and the Opera for Flanders (Opera voor Vlaanderen, which had existed since 1981). Both former institutions were similar fusions between the former opera houses of Antwerp and Ghent. Since the fusion in 1981, the company has been giving performances in two different historic theatres.

It received the "Opera Company of the Year" award at the 2019 International Opera Awards.^[1]