Opéra vérité. Flashback to 2019: The 14-year-old Ali Abdi Omar arrives in a Brussels train station after a desperate odyssey that began in war-torn Somalia when he was 12. He’s on his own, speaking not a word of French or Dutch. Flash forward to the present for the premiere of his life story as adapted for the operatic stage by a sizable équipe of creatives in consultation with Ali himself. The marketing copy promises “A sensory experience where electronic music, voice, string and wind instruments, percussion and dance pay a vibrant tribute to the resilience of a young boy forced, like so many others, to leave his family and home in order to survive.” —Matthew Gurewitsch