Frankfurt Oper breaks bank with 11 new shows
OperaThis is the dazzling roll-out from Oper Frankfurt:
2024/25 Season
New Productions
Hans Werner Henze
Der Prinz von Homburg (The Prince of Homburg)
Sunday September 22nd 2024
Conductor: Takeshi Moriuchi
Director: Jens Daniel Herzog
Set and Costume Designer: Johannes Schütz
Lighting Designer: Joachim Klein
Dramaturge: Mareike Wink
Alban Berg
Lulu
Sunday November 3rd 2024
Conductor: Thomas Guggeis
Director: Nadja Loschky
Set Designer: Katharina Schlipf
Costume Designer: Irina Spreckelmeyer
Lighting Designer: Jan Hartmann
Conceptual collaboration: Yvonne Gebauer
Dramaturge: Mareike Wink
George Frideric Handel
Partenope (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Sunday November 10th 2024 (Bockenheimer Depot)
Conductor: George Petrou
Director: Julia Burbach
Set Designer: Herbert Barz-Murauer
Costume Designer: Raphaela Rose
Choreographer: Cameron McMillan
Lighting Designer: Joachim Klein
Dramaturge: Zsolt Horpácsy
Giuseppe Verdi
Macbeth
Sunday December 1st 2024
Conductor: Thomas Guggeis / Simone Di Felice
Director: R.B. Schlather
Set Designer: Etienne Pluss
Costume Designer: Doey Lüthi
Choreographer: Gal Fefferman
Lighting Designer: Olaf Winter
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
Dramaturge: Konrad Kuhn
Albéric Magnard
Guercœur (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Sunday February 2nd 2025
Conductor: Marie Jacquot / Lukas Rommelspacher
Director: David Herrmann
Set Designer and Video: Jo Schramm
Costume Designer: Sibylle Wallum
Lighting Designer: Joachim Klein
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
Dramaturge: Mareike Wink
Adolphe Adam
Le Postillon de Lonjumeau
Sunday March 2nd 2025
Conductor: Beomseok Yi / Takeshi Moriuchi
Director: Hans Walter Richter
Set and Costume Designer: Kaspar Glarner
Choreographer: Gabriel Wanka
Lighting Designer: Jakob Bogensperger
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
Dramaturge: Mareike Wink
A production acquired from Tiroler Festspiele Erl
Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
Doktor und Apotheker (Doctor and Apothecary)
Saturday March 8th 2025 (Bockenheimer Depot)
Conductor: Alden Gatt / Lukas Rommelspacher
Director: Ute M. Engelhardt
Set and Costume Designer: Kaspar Glarner
Lighting Designer: Jan Hartmann
Dramaturge: Deborah Einspieler
Aribert Reimann
L’invisible (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Sunday March 30th 2025
Conductor: Titus Engel
Director: Daniela Löffner
Set Designer: Fabian Wendling
Costume Designer: Teresa Vergho
Lighting Designer: Joachim Klein
Dramaturge: Maximilian Enderle
Richard Wagner
Parsifal
Sunday May 18th 2025
Conductor: Thomas Guggeis
Director: Birgitte Fassbaender
Set and Costume Designer: Johannes Leiacker
Lighting Designer: Jan Hartmann
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
Dramaturge: Konrad Kuhn
Aribert Reimann
Melusine (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Friday June 6th 2025 (Bockenheimer Depot)
Conductor: Karsten Januschke
Director: Aileen Schneider
Set Designer: Christoph Fischer
Costume Designer: Lorena Díaz Stephens
Lighting Designer: Jan Hartmann
Dramaturge: Maximilian Enderle
George Frideric Handel
Alcina (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
Sunday June 15th 2025
Conductor: Julia Jones
Director: Johannes Erath
Set and Costume Designer: Kaspar Glarner
Lighting Designer: Joachim Klein
Dramaturge: Zsolt Horpácsy
How is Tilman Michael meant to combine the Met and Frankfurt?
George Frideric Handel
Alcina (first ever performance in Frankfurt)
?????!!!!
Truly great list… apart from the Reimann.
I’d say unbalanced rather than great, though I assume your comment was simply a dig at Reimann. Though I have to agree that it is too much Reimann for one house in one season, even given the circumstances. Also, why two Handel operas out of the 11 slots (though the Partenope would be worth a visit)? And Dittersdorf – honestly. Love Wagner but Parsifal is boring. Similar reaction to the Magnard.
One should note that only 8 of the 11 productions are on the main stage. The second Reimann (Melusine), second Handel (Partenope) and the Dittersdorf are performed on a small stage in Bockenheimer Depot with a small orchestra and singers from the ensemble (and sometimes the studio) which often only sing smaller roles in the main stage productions. Productions on this second stage are meant to complement the performances on the main stage and give the local singers a chance to shine. I guess this partly explains the doubling of both Handel and Reimann.
Saw Guercoeur last night in Strasbourg. Not boring at all. Loved it!
One Reimann per season may be considered adventurous. Two, practically reckless.
Reimann is actually quite good, a continuation of early 20C Viennese expressionism, conveying to the audience the terror of life, so different from the world where they came from on entering the theatre. When they leave it again, they will feel strengthened to face the petty, comfortable bourgeois life again where they have to struggle from day to day to get through the misery of the Wirtschaftswunder.
Does the announcement also include the names of singers ?
Yes, it does: https://oper-frankfurt.de/en/new-productions/
Excellent saison, maybe not enough attention to the pillars of the repertoire (no Mozart, no Puccini, not enough Verdi in my opinion). Interesting to see how Guggeis will develop. I saw him in Santa Fe: efficient, a bit too much “Schulmeister”, as they say in Germany (it also is the opinion of those who know him well in Berlin) and very vertical conducting, which sometimes results to be annoying. Macbeth will be interesting.
I agree with your general assessment regarding next season’s repertoire but there are three Verdi productions (Rigoletto, Aida and Macbeth) altogether.