Six important European festivals and theatres and one of the most important stage directors from South Africa join forces to realize a major artistic project: a new interpretation of Verdi’s opera Macbeth. Set in Central Africa within the context of roving rebel armies, foreign mercenaries, horrific brutality and the plundering of natural resources by multinationals, this work - titled "macbEth" - will be an anarchic deconstruction of the initial opera and the dramatization of the Macbeth story within an African context, as told by a company of refugees from the conflict: musicians, singers and performers. Brett Bailey will not only give the score of the opera an African context, he has also invited the Belgian composer Fabrizio Cassol to adapt the music of the opera. Verdi’s Macbeth has a 60 piece orchestra and 40 strong singing cast, Cassol has the huge challenge of rearranging the work for an 8-10 piece on-stage orchestra, including African instrumentation. He will work with the original score and with African musicians in South Africa to make new arrangements of the piece. The project consists in the production of the opera in South Africa and the presentation of the new production in South Africa and in five European cities. The 17 presentations in Europe will be accompanied by debates that are linked to the themes tackled by the production and a work-shop with the director of the piece and young European artists. macbEth can become one of the most important performing arts productions in South Africa and Europe in 2013. The production and presentation of macbEth aims to be a collaboration that is built on a balanced partnership between European arts institutions and a company from South Africa. The untypical approach for an opera production, the scale of the project as well as the visibility of the production in South Africa and in five European cities could encourage similar projects between European and African artists and cultural institutions.