"Rejoice, be glad!" sings the choir at the beginning, and for many, this heralds the start of Advent every year. With rousing choirs, atmospheric solos and contemplative chorales, Bach's Christmas Oratorio finds a tone and gesture that delights audiences and singers alike and has made the work a favorite at Christmas time. A star cast of soloists, the WDR Radio Choir, the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the charismatic conductor Simon Halsey allow the great music to unfold its full radiance and together tell a timeless story of peace on earth.

EPSG:4326

Bach: Weihnachtsoratorium

Museum Ludwig

"Rejoice, be glad!" sings the choir at the beginning, ushering in the Advent season for many every year. With rousing choirs, atmospheric solos and contemplative chorales, Bach's Christmas Oratorio finds a tone and gesture that delights audiences and singers alike and has made the work a favorite piece during the Christmas season. A star cast of soloists, the WDR Radio Choir, the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the charismatic conductor Simon Halsey allow the great music to unfold its full radiance and together tell a timeless story of peace on earth.

Bach: Christmas Oratorio

Cologne Philharmonie

Bach mal anders: Christmas Escape Room

Rejoice, be glad! Bach's Christmas Oratorio is as much a part of the holidays as mulled wine and the Advent wreath. In this concert, however, the audience must actively help to experience the popular and famous Christmas music: the appropriate music will only be heard if the puzzles of the exclusive Bach Escape Room game are solved.

Bach with a twist: Christmas Escape Room | WDR@Philharmonie

Betrayal, lost honour, crime and atonement, passionate love, a yearning for death and forgetting… The tale of Tristan and Isolde grew from a Celtic legend into today’s work of mythical stature. It inspired Richard Wagner to his “opus metaphysicum” [Friedrich Nietzsche].

Tristan and Isolde

Deutsche Oper Berlin

In their second collaboration after LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte drew on the Spanish legend of Don Juan. Earlier popularity aside, the protagonist only attained the mythical dimensions of a heroic archetype in Mozart’s operatic version, which went on to inspire countless reimaginings of the material and philosophical readings by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Søren Kierkegaard et al. A raft of musical pieces from DON GIOVANNI, ranging from arias and the famous overture to duets, trios and ensembles, have seared themselves into our collective awareness.

Don Giovanni

Georges Bizet’s titular heroine is as captivating a character as any in the history of opera. The different interpretations of Carmen are legion: we have the seductress, the personification of forbidden yearning, the standard bearer for the “eternally female” in the brutal battle of the sexes, the anarchist unfettered by bourgeois angst and compulsions, the archaic clairvoyante seeing her own death in the cards - yet free, as she does not dread her destiny. Few opera heroines are so open to interpretation and hence so able to serve as a mirror held up to society.

Carmen

After a day full of opera, backstage experiences, children's programmes, stage shows and more, arias and ensembles from premieres and revivals will be performed. You can look forward to our orchestra, the chorus, and many soloists who will get you in the mood for an exciting and musical season 24/25.

Season Opening Concert 24/25

“As for the effect that a work has as a piece of theatre, I’d say that RIGOLETTO is the best material that I’ve ever set to music […]. It has very powerful scenes, there’s temperament, pathos, a lot of variety.” [Verdi to Antonio Somma, 22nd April 1853]

Rigoletto

Long after the Paris world premiere in 1896 Oscar Wilde’s tragedy “Salomé” remained a thorn in the flesh of the establishment across Europe. In Wilhelminian Germany and the Danube Monarchy, too, official art adjudicators considered the subject “repulsive” and the text “an insult to morality”. In the minds of the guardians of public morals the New Testament story of Herod’s daughter was as ill-suited to the stage as it was to pictorial representation, which was experiencing a boom at the time. Salomé’s stepfather, Herod, the Roman’s client king of Judea, Galilee and Samaria who is said to have ordered the massacre of the innocents around Bethlehem, persuades her to dance for him. Encouraged by her mother, she demands to be given the head of John the Baptist as a reward.

Salome

RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY in Benedikt von Peter's production will take place in the foyers and on the stage - guests can move freely between the venues and video screens. There will be free choice of seating, including on mattresses.

Kieran Carrel

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 1, 2024 - Jun 22, 2025

Carmen · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Oct 27, 2024 - Jan 18, 2025

Tristan and Isolde · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Jan 10 - Jun 6, 2025

Rigoletto · Deutsche Oper Berlin

8 - 14 Mar, 2025

Salome · Deutsche Oper Berlin

17 - 26 Jul, 2025

Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Past events

Dec 14, 2024

Bach: Weihnachtsoratorium · Kölner Philharmonie

Dec 14, 2024

Bach: Christmas Oratorio · WDR Sinfonieorchester

Future and recently performed repertoire

Narraboth in Salome by Strauss

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Singer in Christmas Oratorio by Bach

WDR Sinfonieorchester

Jack O'Brian in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Weill

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Seaman in Tristan and Isolde by Wagner

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Remendado in Carmen by Bizet

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Matthew Stock Exchange in Rigoletto by Verdi

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni by Mozart

Deutsche Oper Berlin

About

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