Conductor

The line from Mozart to Debussy and Ravel is usually straighter than that to their German-speaking contemporaries. For all three share a playful quality – a delight in sound that delights the ear and yet never remains superficial. But when things get serious, Mozart transcends the player and shows in his great church works that beauty and reverence are not mutually exclusive. His Great Mass in C minor is one of those masterpieces that has something tragic and, at the same time, stately about it.

Debussy

Tonhalle Düsseldorf

Among them, parallel trajectories echo each other with poignant force. Korngold and Schoenberg, two major figures in Viennese music, had to flee Nazism. The former found refuge in Hollywood where he revolutionized film music; the latter reconstructed his musical language in the United States. Their works bear the scars of this uprooting, between nostalgia and audacity. Pablo Casals and Roberto Gerhard, Spanish exiles, embody resistance through music. Casals, an opponent of Franco, transformed El cant dels ocells into a hymn of freedom. Gerhard, a disciple of Schoenberg, blended avant-garde and Catalan folklore in a unique style, shaped by his exile in England. Arvo Pärt, Olga Podgaiskaya, and Samir Odeh-Tamimi extend this reflection on wandering and creation. Pärt, forced to leave Soviet Estonia, found refuge in timeless music. Podgaiskaya and Odeh-Tamimi, heirs to these journeys, in turn question boundaries and shifting identities. An evening resonating with the echoes of a torn 20th century and the persistence of a beauty born of absence. A world concert where each note echoes a lost land, but also the hope of a new beginning.

Exiles #2

Opéra Comédie

Count Almaviva walks on suitor's feet. The object of his latest desire: Susanna, his wife's chambermaid and fiancée of his valet Figaro. Shortly before the wedding, the young couple has to use all their ingenuity to avoid Susanna's erotic advances from her aristocratic employer - turbulence is inevitable!

The Marriage of Figaro

Theater Duisburg

German Oper am Rhein

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly cannot accept that her great love is doomed to end in heartbreak.

Madama Butterfly

Semperoper Dresden

In the festive atmosphere of Wiesbaden's Kurhaus, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) traditionally welcomes the new year with an entertaining and artistically first-class program – this time under the direction of the young Belarusian conductor Vitali Alekseenok. Alongside the well-known overture "The Bartered Bride" by Bedřich Smetana, the "Wiesbaden Master Concerts" will also feature the unconventional Cello Concerto by Friedrich Gulda, performed by the internationally acclaimed young cellist Anastasia Kobekina, as well as Zoltán Kodály's "Dances of Galánta" and Maurice Ravel's "La valse."

New Year's Concert Wiesbaden

Kurhaus Wiesbaden GmbH

Snow sparkles in the pale winter sun, a horse-drawn sleigh glides through a light birch forest. Ice flowers grow on the window pane, while the samovar boils in the room. Tchaikovsky, with his First Symphony, makes a atmospheric declaration of love to the famous-infamous Russian winter with all its manifestations. In addition, two completely different but equally fascinating piano concertos are heard: Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto bursts with energy and sophistication. It is a youthful work full of spirit and shows Prokofiev as a true virtuoso of the piano. On the other hand, Ravel's Piano Concerto "for the left hand" is characterized by darker tones and was written for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right hand in World War I. It is so cleverly composed that as a listener, one does not realize that in this almost 20-minute concert, piano and orchestra only play together for six minutes. A challenge for our Artist in Residence, who once again can demonstrate the full range of his abilities.

EPSG:4326

Ravel and Tchaikovsky

Palace of Culture

Two peoples find themselves in the barbaric grip of war after Nabucco and his troops attack Jerusalem. The Babylonian ruler and Zaccaria, the leader of the Hebrews, do not budge an inch from their opposing viewpoints in this profound conflict, while the daily grind of war continues to bring new suffering to both peoples. The seemingly hopeless conflict does not even stop at their own families: Zaccaria holds Nabucco's favorite daughter Fenena hostage, while she has long since changed sides out of love for Ismaele and lives among the enemy people. Nabucco's other daughter, Abigaille, envies her sister's happiness and her father's throne and forges disastrous plans...

Nabucco

Freedom, courage, and human rights are the existential themes that form the foundation of Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, "Fidelio." It is the story of the arbitrarily imprisoned Florestan, whose loving wife, Leonore, disguises herself as a man against all danger to free him from prison in the role of "Fidelio." On the journey from imprisonment to a seemingly utopian freedom, the driving force of music transcends formal boundaries.

Fidelio

CityPalais

Freedom, courage and human rights are the fundamental motifs that form the foundation of Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera “Fidelio”. In the spirit of the French Revolution, the composer created a profoundly humanistic work that questions humanity when faced with tyrannical oppression and has lost none of its impact today.

Violetta Valéry is beautiful, clever, warm-hearted - and terminally ill. Her life as a noble courtesan is preordained. There is no room for private happiness, not even for her love for the young Alfredo Germont, who conquers her heart and wants to save her from the vicious circle of venal love into a carefree private sphere. There she meets her doom in the shape of Alfredo's father Giorgio Germont....

La travi­ata

A traditional highlight at the start of the season: At the 6th Haniel Klassik Open Air, the family-run company Haniel, together with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Duisburg cultural companies and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, is once again inviting people to enjoy classical music for free in the open air. Against the impressive backdrop of the Duisburg opera house, the new opera general music director Vitali Alekseenok will make his debut at the podium at the popular event, which has delighted thousands of Duisburg residents and their guests from outside since 2013 under the motto "Free and outdoors". In addition to the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Choir and soloists from the opera ensemble will once again gather on stage for a varied program with samples from the opera repertoire and a look ahead to the 2024/2025 season, which will be enriched by guest artists Olvido Ruiz (vocals) and Marialy Pacheco (piano) with a lively Cuban touch and cleverly interspersed jazz elements. As prominent and knowledgeable as ever, the presenter and all-round musician Götz Alsmann will once again lead the audience through the music-filled late summer evening.

6th Haniel Klassik Open Air

Opernplatz in front of the Theater Duisburg

A sparkling finale with musical fireworks: Once again this year, the Friends of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein guarantee all opera fans a top-class season finale!

Conductor

Vitali Alekseenok

Events

Upcoming events

Jun 19, 2026

Festive Opera Gala · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Past events

20 - 23 Mar, 2026

Debussy · Düsseldorfer Symphoniker

Feb 7, 2026

Exiles #2 · Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in The Bartered Bride by Smetana

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Don Quixote by Strauss

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Conductor in La valse by Ravel

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Piano Concerto for the Left Hand by Ravel

Dresdner Philharmonie

Conductor in Piano Concerto No. 1 by Prokofiev

Dresdner Philharmonie

Conductor in Madama Butterfly by Puccini

Semperoper Dresden

Conductor in Theme and Variations by Korngold

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Conductor in La traviata by Verdi

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Conductor in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Conductor in Nabucco by Verdi

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Conductor in Friede auf Erden by Schönberg

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Conductor in Fidelio by Beethoven

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Conductor in Symphony No. 1 by Tchaikovsky

Dresdner Philharmonie

Conductor in Dances from Galánta by Kodály

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Cello Concerto by Gulda

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Passover Psalm by Korngold

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Conductor in El Cant dels Ocells by Casals

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Conductor in In Principio by Pärt

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Conductor in Captain of the planets by Podgaiskaya

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Conductor in Aufbruch by Odeh-Tamimi

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

About

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