Name: María de Buenos Aires
Start: 2025-05-28T20:00:00
Location: Staatenhaus Köln

Dive into the rich tapestry of performances set to grace the stage at Oper Köln in 2025, where timeless classics and innovative narratives offer a captivating journey through the intricacies of human nature and cultural discourse. From the vibrant streets of 1920s Cologne in 'De Kölsche Fledermaus' to the philosophical depths of 'Simone's Passion', each production promises not only a display of unparalleled artistry but a dialogue across time and space. Join us as we explore the creativity, emotion, and imagination that define these remarkable productions.

A Spectacle of Theatrical Elegance: Oper Köln’s 2025 Line-up

Oper Köln's 2025 season promises a captivating blend of drama, humor, and historical intrigue with performances spanning from the comedic 'De Kölsche Fledermaus' to the haunting 'The Last Days of Mankind.' Each event offers a unique perspective, brought to life by talented performers and innovative productions. Whether you're drawn to the timeless allure of 'Don Giovanni' or the modern exploration of identity in 'Superhero Normalos,' this season has something for every opera enthusiast.

A Journey Through Oper Köln's 2025 Season: From Carnival Comedy to Historical Drama

Oper Köln's 2025 calendar promises a thrilling lineup of performances that explore timeless themes through fresh perspectives. Spanning from legendary tales of passion and intrigue to contemporary narratives that resonate with today's audiences, the season features a diverse range of operas, from the classic 'Don Giovanni' and 'Carmen' to the innovative 'Superhero Normalos'. With a roster of talented performers and visionary directors, each event is set to captivate audiences at the Staatenhaus Köln in Germering, Germany.

Oper Köln's 2025 Season: A Diverse Ensemble of Stories and Sounds

Oper Köln is set to captivate audiences with a diverse lineup of performances this spring and summer. From timeless operatic tales like 'Don Giovanni' and 'Carmen' to innovative productions such as 'Superhero Normalos' and 'Simone's Passion', the program promises a rich tapestry of cultural and artistic experiences. With a blend of classic and contemporary pieces, Oper Köln offers a stage for exploring themes of identity, power, and societal norms, while showcasing remarkable talent from around the globe.

Oper Köln's Spring and Summer Theater Extravaganza: A Journey Through Music and Drama

In a tapestry of emotions and stories, Oper Köln brings forth a vibrant array of productions that delve into the profound depths of human experience. From community-driven initiatives like 'Superhero Normalos' to the philosophical musings in 'Simone's Passion', each event promises to captivate and resonate with audiences of all ages. With a rich blend of storytelling, music, and culture, these performances invite attendees to explore themes of identity, power, love, and the human condition.

Exploring Humanity Through Opera: A Journey at Oper Köln

Adriana Bastidas-Gamboa

German Enrique Alcantara

Tatiana Saphir

Andreas Grüter

Tanja Liebermann

Teresa Rotemberg

Oper Köln

On some full moon nights, a sinister storm rages through the Wolf's Gorge. For here, in the middle of the forest, free bullets are cast. With the help of these special bullets, every shot hits its mark, even if one cannot actually shoot. And Max urgently needs such free bullets so that he can pass the shooting test and finally be recognized as a member of the community. Otherwise, he will forever be branded as a failure and cannot marry his girlfriend Agathe. To get the free bullets, however, one must enter into a pact with the devil. From Carl Maria von Weber's romantic opera DER FREISCHÜTZ, a music theater is created for people with and without hearing impairment. For the first time, this co-production of the Cologne Opera and the COMEDIA Theater Taube Actors together with singers on stage sets out to explore the question of how music theater can be made more accessible for people with hearing disabilities. Means of accessibility thereby become an aesthetic component of the total work of art: German Sign Language is used equally alongside singing, spoken language and orchestral music. Music and sounds are visualized, and the sense of smell is also engaged. In this way, the story of the Freischütz is staged in such a form that the opera can be experienced with all senses and accessibility for all to this art form is created.

Free Bullets - The Marksman in five dimensions

Comedia Theater

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

Cologne Opera

Maria is new to the big city. She brings with her boundless curiosity, her confidence, and her big heart for everyone she meets. She's practically perfect. Her compassion has the potential to save humanity. But as she increasingly tries to take her life into her own hands, she is confronted with a disastrous truth that calls her entire reality into question...

Maria Everywhere

Radfahren in der Grundschule

The Chinese princess Turandot is obliged to marry only the man who solves her three riddles - a vow that has already cost countless princes their lives. Anyone who fails will be executed that very night. However, when Calaf, a Tartar Prince, sees Turandot, he cannot resist her enigmatic beauty. He solves the tasks, but the princess refuses the marriage. Calaf turns the game round: In order to avoid the marriage, Turandot must discover his name before dawn - a task that pushes everyone to their limits. The aria "Nessun dorma" marks the opera's dramatic climax. But after the naming of the name, "Love", Puccini's last work ends with the note "e poi "Tristano" - "and then Tristan". The opulent production by Lydia Steier ("Director of the Year" 2024) makes this work into an opera experience full of suspense, passion, and spectacle. Felix Bender assumes the Musical Direction once again.

Turandot

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.

Tancredi

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

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