In our song matinees, ensemble members and pianists dedicate themselves to the exciting variety of international song art - in the foyer of the Düsseldorf Opera House and, as of this season, also in the opera foyer of the Duisburg Theater!

Song matinee

Theater Duisburg

German Oper am Rhein

Before becoming Head of Music at Westminster Cathedral in London in 2021, Simon Johnson was organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, where he performed at a variety of royal events, including the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and the celebrations for her 90th birthday. The Eule organ in the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle, with its four manuals and 72 stops, is also very British and majestic. Its four manuals and 72 stops are modeled on the late-Romantic English town hall organs—in the first Toccata of the season, the Duisburg Philharmonic Choir will provide powerful support. Choir director Marcus Strümpe has included Anton Bruckner, among others, on the program, as the late-Romantic composer, as a virtuoso organist and composer of sacred music, was well versed in the combination of choir and organ. In Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's "Hear My Prayer," a soprano joins the organ and choir: the frequent alternations between solo voice and choir are reminiscent of the "anthem" tradition of the Anglican liturgy. William Harris and Herbert Howells, two prominent representatives of Anglican church music, are also on the program, while Louis Vierne, long-time chief organist at Notre-Dame de Paris, represents the rich organ scene in France. An exuberant romantic richness of sound characterizes his organ symphonies, a genre he himself invented.

Organ & Choir

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.

Fidelio

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.

Last season, the Chinese-born New Zealand conductor Tianyi Lu made her debut in Duisburg and caused a huge sensation with a passionate performance. Now she is returning to the orchestra - with one of the most mysterious works in music history: the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. There are countless legends about this requiem, which the composer was unable to complete himself. He died while working on it and left behind fragments for posterity that led to all kinds of speculation. Because most of the movements of the Requiem hardly progressed beyond sketches, the mythical history of composition is followed by an equally adventurous series of attempts to complete the torso to form a "complete" work. Tianyi Lu has opted for the established version by Franz Xaver Süßmayr, to whom Mozart himself says he personally gave instructions for the elaboration. But regardless of the question of how much “real” Mozart is in the Requiem, it is a masterful work – with the spectacular use of the trombones in the “Dies irae” and the powerful use of the choir. Here it is brilliantly sung by the Duisburg Philharmonic Choir, with whom the orchestra traditionally maintains a close working relationship.

Mozart Requiem

Philharmonie Mercatorhalle

Of course, it's much more fun to play than to help with the housework! Hansel and Gretel know that too. It's just a shame that they smash the milk churn during their boisterous game and there goes their dinner. What should the destitute family put on the table now? The mother scolds her children and sends them into the forest to look for berries. What begins as an adventure quickly turns serious at dusk, however: the siblings get lost and soon fall into the clutches of the evil witch. Now they have to summon up all their courage and ingenuity to free themselves.

Hänsel und Gretel

King Krax is tired of ruling the land of Abholzhausen. There are too many crises to deal with: Climate change, pandemics, inflation, wars. His cunning chief inventor, Megapfiffikuss, has persuaded the king that he can escape his worries by travelling into space. Lunatick, the king's daughter, is supposed to take care of the problems. However, she has no intention of taking on her father's frustrating tasks and flies off with him into space instead. The destination of their journey is the mysterious Planet 9, which, to everyone's surprise, is already inhabited by the extraterrestrial Ninurians...

Die Reise zu Planet 9

Of course, it's much more fun to play than to help with housework! Hänsel and Gretel know that too. It's just a shame that they smash the milk churn during their boisterous games and ruin their dinner. What should the poor family put on the table now? The mother scolds her children and sends them into the forest to look for berries. However, what begins as an adventure soon turns serious at dusk: the siblings get lost and soon fall into the clutches of the wicked witch. Now they have to summon up all their courage and ingenuity to free themselves.

Hansel and Gretel

The Queen of the Night asks Tamino to free Pamina from the clutches of the supposed villain Sarastro. And so, together with the bird catcher Papageno, he sets out to become a hero. But there are many surprises awaiting him on his adventurous rescue mission... Barrie Kosky's multimedia staging, which the director developed together with the British artists' collective “1927”, has long enjoyed cult status around the world. The imaginative interplay of scene, music and video animation elegantly transposes Mozart's opera into the present day.

The Magic Flute

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

In order to foil Alberich’s bid for power, the ruler of the gods Wotan has fathered nine Valkyries, who have the task of gathering an army of fallen heroes for him and bringing them to Valhalla. His intention is that his son Siegmund, conceived from a relationship with a mortal woman, will be the free-born hero who wins back the ring for him. However, Siegmund unwittingly upsets Wotan’s plan by falling in love with his twin sister Sieglinde, a union that gives birth to Siegfried. When Wotan’s favourite daughter Brünnhilde disobeys her father’s order to seal Siegmund’s downfall out of compassion, he banishes her to the rock of fire from which only the strongest hero will be able to rescue her. This will be Siegfried.

The Valkyrie

A woman was once burned at the stake for being a witch - an event whose dark shadows extend to present times. A thrilling drama begins to unfold: Azucena, the daughter of the executed woman, swears to avenge her mother's death. In return, she kidnaps one of the sons of the old Count Luna, who is responsible for the execution. In the glistening madness of revenge, however, she no longer recognizes whether she is killing her own child or the son of the despised count. Years later, Azucena's now grown-up son, the titular troubadour Manrico, and the young Count Luna not only face each other in the civil war, they are also rivals for Leonora's love... Giuseppe Verdi stages the emotional extremes of his characters in a gripping and melodic way in this work, which, along with “Rigoletto” and “La traviata”, is part of his 'Trilogia popolare'.

Anna Sophia Theil

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 16, 2025 - Jul 12, 2026

Song matinee · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Dec 6, 2025 - Jan 18, 2026

Hansel and Gretel · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Dec 10, 2025 - Mar 13, 2026

The Magic Flute · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Jan 25 - May 24, 2026

The Marriage of Figaro · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Feb 22 - Apr 5, 2026

The Valkyrie · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Past events

Nov 16, 2025 - Jul 12, 2026

Song matinee · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Nov 1, 2025

Organ & Choir · Duisburger Philharmoniker

Future and recently performed repertoire

Ines in Il trovatore by Verdi

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Pamina in The Magic Flute by Mozart

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Gretel in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Marzeline in Fidelio by Beethoven

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Marzelline in Fidelio by Beethoven

Duisburger Philharmoniker

Helmwige in The Valkyrie by Wagner

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

About

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