Frankfurt Opera sets record with 14 new productions
mainNo opera company is putting out as much new work as Oper Frankfurt promises for next season. Here’s the list, announced today:
2018/19 Season
New Productions
Peter Eötvös
Tri sestry (Three Sisters; first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Sunday September 9th 2018
Conductors: Dennis Russell Davies and Nikolai Petersen
Director: Dorothea Kirschbaum
Set Designer: Ashley Martin-Davis
Costume Designer: Michaela Barth
Olga Neuwirth
Lost Highway (first performance in Germany)
Wednesday September 12th 2018 (Bockenheimer Depot)
Conductor: Karsten Januschke
Director: Yuval Sharon
Set Designer, Video Designer, Light Designer: Jason H. Thompson, Kaitlyn Pietras
Costume Designer: Doey Lüthi
Peter I. Tschaikovsky
Iolanta (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Igor Stravinsky
Oedipus Rex
Sunday October 28th 2018
Conductor: Sebastian Weigle / Nikolai Petersen
Director: Lydia Steier
Set Designer: Barbara Ehnes
Costume Designer: Alfred Mayerhofer
Giuseppe Verdi
Il corsaro (The Corsair; in concert / first ever performance in Frankfurt )
Wednesday November 7th 2018
Conductor: Francesco Lanzillotta
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
Vincenzo Bellini
I puritani
Sunday December 2nd 2018
Conductor: Tito Ceccherini
Director: Vincent Boussard
Set Designer: Johannes Leiacker
Costume Designer: Christian Lacroix
Co-production with Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège
Giuseppe Verdi
La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny)
Sunday January 27th 2019
Conductor: Jader Bignamini / Gaetano Soliman
Director: Tobias Kratzer
Set and Costume Designer: Rainer Sellmaier
Uwe Dierksen
Mina (World Premiere)
Saturday, February 2nd 2019 (Bockenheimer Depot)
Conductor: Uwe Dierksen
Director: Ute M. Engelhardt
Set and Costume Designer: Mara Scheibinger
Bedřich Smetana
Dalibor
Sunday February 24th 2019
Conductor: Stefan Soltesz
Director: Florentine Klepper
Set Designer: Boris Kudlička
Costume Designer: Adriane Westerbarkey
Franz Schreker
Der ferne Klang (The Distant Sound)
Sunday March 31st 2019
Conductor: Sebastian Weigle / Florian Erdl
Director: Damiano Michieletto
Set Designer: Paolo Fantin
Costume Designer: Klaus Bruns
George Frideric Handel
Rodelinda
Sunday May 12th 2019
Conductor: Andrea Marcon
Director: Claus Guth
Set and Costume Designer: Christian Schmidt
Co-production with Teatro Real, Madrid, Opéra de Lyon and Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona
Karol Szymanowski
Król Roger (King Roger)
Sunday June 2nd 2019
Conductor: Sylvain Cambreling
Director: Johannes Erath
Set Designer: Johannes Leiacker
Costume Designer: Jorge Jara
Bruno Maderna
Satyricon (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Gian Carlo Menotti
The Medium (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Saturday June 15th 2019 (Bockenheimer Depot)
Conductors: Simone Di Felice / Nikolai Petersen
Directors: Nelly Danker / Hans Walter Richter
Set Designer: Kaspar Glarner
Costume Designer: Cornelia Schmidt
In the meantime, in the U.K. Music services are being cut.
Very impressive, an extremely dynamic place., Not so long ago the ENO had a similar number of new productions., but most were so bad that it undermined their future requests for funding.
Best opera house in Europe imho Bernd Loebe best theatre director in a long time, solid work for years. Serious stuff
Six of the 14 works were written in the 20th or 21st century.
Yes, a healthy sign.
Intrigued by what looks like a double bill of Menotti and Maderna. On the face of it, not much in common aside from shared letters in their surnames.
Frankfurt is different – Euro is easy to get – all banks around and they do want to shine…besides the Opera House might have to be demolished. Last effort to show off, maybe.
The recent exhibition in Frankfurt “Splendor and Misery in the Weimar Republic” was very impressive indeed. Despite a rather confusing layout, one of the best art exhibitions I’ve ever been to. Hopefully it will reach London.
Outwardly, an unremarkable city but there’s much of interest going on.
Who needs so much?
Quantity isn’t necessarily quality.