From a deep E-flat major chord, time and space are lifted, and on the waves of the Rhine, a world unfolds with gods, dwarves, giants and creatures of nature. However, the paradisiacal primordial state does not last long: After the Nibelung Alberich is spurned by the Rhinemaidens, he decides to renounce love forever and seize the gold from the depths of the Rhine. From this, he now forges a ring that grants him world power. But the father of the gods, Wotan, also wants to possess the ring. With the help of the fire god Loge, he actually succeeds in stealing the ring from Alberich. However, Alberich curses the ring: Misfortune shall befall its owner - a prophecy that will soon be fulfilled for the first, but not the last time. Richard Wagner created with DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN a parable about the origin and end of the world and realised his radical idea of a total work of art, in which text, music and stage action form a symbiosis. Wagner's endless melody and his leitmotif technique, which he had already developed in DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER and LOHENGRIN, reach an as yet unprecedented complexity in THE RING. With the creation of the RING tetralogy, Wagner also solidified the plan for his own festival theatre as a venue. At the request of his patron King Ludwig II, the premiere of RHEINGOLD took place on 22 September 1869 at the National Theatre of Munich. The audience, which was largely composed of professionals and art connoisseurs who had travelled from afar, expressed enthusiastic applause. Wagner's vision of performing the entire DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN  in his own festival theatre finally became a reality in 1876 in Bayreuth. Director Paul-Georg Dittrich, who has already introduced himself to Cologne with his production of DER ZWERG, will stage a new RING. In RHEINGOLD, he embarks on a search for the childlike origin of the world. What happens when free, yet unencumbered imagination is instrumentalised in a power-obsessed society? The musical direction is under the internationally sought-after conductor Marc Albrecht, who returns to the podium of the Gürzenich Orchestra after DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN.

The Rhinegold

Cologne Opera

A scandalous novel by Abbé Prévost from 18th century Paris tells of the "amour fou" between the young noble Chevalier Des Grieux and the bourgeois girl Manon Lescaut. Both violate morality and law in the name of love and become the most famous couple of their era. Manon is torn between a passionate love and her desire for a life of wealth and security. On the way to the convent, she is matched with a wealthy man by her brother but elopes with her lover. In the house of the wealthy Geronte, to which she returns, she is regarded merely as an attraction, yet choosing the loving Des Grieux and leaving everything behind proves difficult for her. During an escape attempt, she is arrested as a thief and sentenced to exile in the American colonies. Des Grieux, who attempts in vain to save her, follows her into exile, where their shared path ultimately ends in the desert. A tragic love story where love finds no place to unfold. The year 1893 marks a turning point for Italian opera: the 80-year-old Giuseppe Verdi retires from the stage with his last opera FALSTAFF. At the same time, there is no longer any doubt as to who will be his successor: with MANON LESCAUT, Giacomo Puccini experiences his first global success and creates a new Italian opera that reflects the spirit of the age: the emotions are intense and torn, the forms are free, the acts follow one another episodically and obey only the laws of passion. Puccini pays homage to the 18th century in the score, yet the fascination that Richard Wagner's music had on him is particularly felt with particular compulsion in this opera. Richness of colour, dramatic expressiveness, and emotive cantilenas make MANON LESCAUT a very special Italian opera work, with the most demanding tenor role Puccini ever wrote. The new General Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada opens his first season at the podium of the Gürzenich Orchestra with this premiere. Carlos Wagner, a director of international standing, makes his debut in Cologne with MANON LESCAUT.

Manon Lescaut

Power, love and intrigue prevail in ancient Egypt, as no fewer than three ruling houses are entangled in the country’s political turmoil: following the defeat of Giulio Cesare, his adversary Pompeo has fled to Egypt with his wife Cornelia and his son Sesto. However, King Tolomeo has Pompeo murdered immediately in order to hand Pompeo’s head to Cesare on his arrival. However, the “gift” misses its mark: Cesare is dismayed by so much malice. Cornelia and Sesto swear revenge on Tolomeo. Cleopatra, Tolomeo’s sister, also tries to win favour with Cesare. Tolomeo’s power threatens to crumble and the battle for the throne unfolds...

EPSG:4326

Julius Caesar in Egypt

Staatenhaus Köln

Astor Piazzolla was the king of Argentinian tango nuevo. From the 1950s onwards, he combined the old tango from the bars and streets of Buenos Aires with influences from classical and modern music, jazz and pop, adding sharp rhythms, unusual sound combinations and striking chords to create entirely new forms of expression that go far beyond the boundaries of pure dance music. The focus was always on the special character of the bandoneon, originally an instrument from the Rhineland, which only really became famous through Piazzolla’s tangos.

María de Buenos Aires

Carmen is independent and won’t let anyone take her freedom. She makes her own decisions - nobody else! Carmen loves life. She lives entirely in the present, not in the past or the future. Carmen’s love has wings: when she loves someone, it is for precisely that moment and not for all eternity - her interest might turn to someone else the very next moment. Carmen quarrels and fights, she doesn’t shy away from the criminal milieu either, because property or standards of any kind don’t exist for her.

Carmen

Orlando is obsessively in love with Angelica and tries with all his might to win her over. This causes the wizard Zoroastro concern, as Orlando is neglecting his duty as a warrior. When Orlando finds out that Angelica is in love with the soldier Medoro instead of him, he goes mad with jealousy, hallucinates a descent into the underworld and resolves to destroy everything and everyone. Will Zoroastro achieve his goal and get Orlando back onto the “right path”?

Orlando

"Take me to the ball!" pleads Cinderella Angelina. However, her wish meets with rejection by her stepfather Don Magnifico and the selfish stepsisters Instead, she is treated like a maid, while the spoiled amily dreams of wealth - although everything is on the brink of ruin. But behind this false world lies a more beautiful one: A prince awaits Angelina and true values ​​triumph over false appearances. In the end, justice prevails: Angelina forgives her family and becomes not only a princess but also as a wise-hearted regent. In LA CENERENTOLA, Gioacchino Rossini combines virtuosic bel canto with the dream of a fairer world. Cecilia Ligorio's enthusiastically received production from the year 2022 returns to the schedule, under the musical direction by Matteo Beltrami.

La Cenerentola

Storm and thunder, unbridled passion, incest and divine wrath - all of this is already brewing in the first bars of the orchestral prelude to DIE WALKÜRE and gives a hint of what is to follow. In DIE WALKÜRE, the first day of the stage festival play DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, Wagner focuses on the generation of Wotan's descendants: On the sibling pair Siegmund and Sieglinde, who, after many years of separation, meet fatefully and fall in love with each other. And on the Valkyries, Brünnhilde and her eight sisters, whose task it is to bring the heroes fallen in battle to Valhalla. When Wotan's wife Fricka learns of the incestuous relationship between Siegmund and Sieglinde, she demands that Wotan put an end to it. So Wotan orders his favourite daughter Brünnhilde to overthrow Siegmund in his battle against his rival Hunding. But Brünnhilde protects Siegmund against Wotan’s command. As punishment, Wotan puts Brünnhilde into a deep sleep and ignites a circle of fire around her, which only one without fear can pass through...

Die Walküre

The opera begins like a mysterious fairy tale. A woman mourns her child, another consoles: "Find a happy person in this world and cut a button off his sleeve." Do it before night, and your child will live. A happy person. You have time until night. Finding a happy person seems easy. However, one disappointing encounter follows another. Happiness is like a mask that quickly falls when you look more closely. Then the path leads to the threshold of a wondrous and charming garden. PICTURE A DAY LIKE THIS is the new work by composer George Benjamin (*1960) and playwright Martin Crimp (*1956), who, since the triumphant premiere of WRITTEN ON SKIN, are considered among the most important authors of contemporary opera internationally. After two large-scale works, Benjamin and Crimp return to chamber opera with their fourth joint work. PICTURE A DAY LIKE THIS develops a story as touching as it is surprising about human nature. This creates a fine mosaic of music and narration. The production of the world premiere at the 2023 Festival Aix-en-Provence by Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma alternates between realism and dreamlike fantasy and has since captivated audiences in France and England. Now the co-production with the Cologne Opera can be experienced as a German premiere at the Staatenhaus. "PICTURE A DAY LIKE THIS addresses the most existential questions in just one hour." […] George Benjamin's music is on point in every beat, with every note, and from the tightly held ensemble, he conjures a richness of colour that is astonishing. [...] To this end, Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma create a subtly crafted Gesamtkunstwerk with enchanting lighting direction as well as high scenic density and elegance." (BR-Klassik)

Picture a Day like this

This is a gripping operatic thriller of emotions, with which the then 21-year-old Gioacchino Rossini catapulted himself to the forefront of Italian composers from Venice in 1813: Amenaide is to obey her father's will and marry a man she does not love. In doing so, she contributes to ending the power struggle between two rival families in her hometown. Amenaide, in the meantime suspected of being a traitor and threatened with death, loves Tancredi, who returns to his hometown incognito, learns of the forced betrothal and kills his rival. But the trusting relationship with Amenaide is gone, Tancredi is desperate and wants to find death. Although an early work, TANCREDI with its lively melodies and resounding finales testifies to Rossini's musical inventiveness. It is above all the solo scenes in which the work builds up to its highlights. With the catchy cabaletta of the eponymous hero "Di tanti palpiti", the work contains a veritable opera hit, which in Italy effectively has the status of a folk song. The male main character Tancredi is in this case cast with a mezzo-soprano, a "trouser role" characteristic of the early 19th century. Musically, however, TANCREDI has much more to offer than this one big hit. Rossini developed new ways for the romantic Italian opera with his so-called "Rossini Code" also in terms of form - often a tempo d’attacco, an adagio, a tempo di mezzo and a cabaletta follow one another. The successful production of the Bregenz Festival from the year 2024, directed by Jan Philipp Gloger, is now being presented in Cologne. Jan Philipp Gloger, most recently in Cologne for the direction of EIN MASKENBALL, focuses his production on the love between two women who have little chance of self-fulfilment in a clan and macho world. The musical direction is held by George Petrou.

Adriana Bastidas-Gamboa

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 25, 2025 - Jan 11, 2026

La Cenerentola · Oper Köln

Mar 29 - May 3, 2026

Die Walküre · Oper Köln

10 - 24 May, 2026

Picture a Day like this · Oper Köln

Jun 20 - Jul 5, 2026

Tancredi · Oper Köln

Past events

Oct 26 - Nov 16, 2025

The Rhinegold · Oper Köln

Sep 28 - Oct 19, 2025

Manon Lescaut · Oper Köln

Future and recently performed repertoire

Tancredi in Tancredi by Rossini

Oper Köln

A musician in Manon Lescaut by Puccini

Oper Köln

Angelina in La Cenerentola by Rossini

Oper Köln

On the ground in Das Rheingold by Wagner

Oper Köln

Schwertleite in The Valkyrie by Wagner

Oper Köln

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