Name: Happy New Ears
Start: 2026-05-13T19:30:00
Location: HfMDK Frankfurt

Frankfurt's cultural scene is set to burst with a vibrant array of performances and events, courtesy of Oper Frankfurt. From thought-provoking discussions with cultural icons like Michel Friedman and Franz Müntefering, to iconic operas such as Carmen and Madama Butterfly, there's something for every art enthusiast. As the home of boundary-pushing concerts, recitals, and symphonic experiences, Oper Frankfurt promises a season that challenges, entertains, and enlightens. Here's a detailed look at the exciting upcoming events and performances that await music and opera lovers alike.

A Dive into Oper Frankfurt's Upcoming Season: Classics, Conversations, and Captivating Performances

Oper Frankfurt is hosting a series of captivating events that promise to engage and inspire audiences. From thought-provoking conversations with Michel Friedman to the spellbinding 'Madama Butterfly', each event offers a unique cultural experience. Celebrate Helmut Lachenmann's 90th birthday with 'Happy New Ears', or delve into the dramatic realms of 'Written on Skin' and 'Werther'. With a variety of concerts, operas, and recitals, there's something for every music lover to enjoy.

Exploring Oper Frankfurt's Diverse Musical Offerings: From Conversations to Iconic Operas

Enno Poppe

Oper Frankfurt

The title of this series of concerts– »Happy New Ears« – was something John Cage once wished his audience instead of Happy New Year. Cage, along with Luigi Nono, who taught him, and Karlheinz Stockhausen were among those to have influenced Helmut Lachenmann most. He turns 90 on November 27 this year; a chance to honour one of the most important composers of the 20th and 21st centuries with a portrait concert. He's been trying to broaden horizons across the board with his distinct sound world and challenging concepts of art and music for nearly 70 years. »Art is not an expression of what defines time, but what it lacks,« he said and, with Beethoven in mind: »a metamorphosis of magical, familiar experiences triggered by a spiritually charged, creative driving force« - something that fascinates him.

Happy New Ears

HfMDK Frankfurt

The relationship between Cio-Cio-San, called »Butterfly«, and US American marine officer Benjamin F. Pinkerton begins as a proforma wedding – with unexpected consequences: the young Japanese woman cuts herself off from her family, hoping to leave her impoverished origins behind; Pinkerton, on the other hand, despite his overwhelming desires, doesn’t feel committed to this »provisional marriage«. When he’s ordered home Cio-Cio-San’s left behind, expecting his baby. She waits unwaveringly for his return; her only rock is her faithful servant Suzuki. But when Pinkerton’s ship re-docks in Nagasaki, the illusion shatters: He married another woman in America. When Butterfly realises they intend to take her child as well, she sees no other way out; she commits ritual suicide, as her father before her. Doing away with superficial clichés, the director R.B. Schlather focuses on the human tragedy, for which Puccini, Master of Melody found such heart-rending music.

Madama Butterfly

A wealthy man wants to immortalise his life and success in an illustrated book, which confronts him with an uncomfortable reality.

Written on Skin

Julies Massenet’s much loved opera Werther moves between ecstasy and resignation, dream and reality, sensual desire and the longing for death. Central to this feverish drama, based on Goethe‘s 1774 epistolary novel, are Werther and his impossible love for Charlotte, who promised her dying mother to marry dependable Albert. Charlotte repeatedly turns Werther down, although she shares his feelings. It ends with Werther taking his life on Christmas Eve.

Werther

Music is always a reflection of its time. Bernstein's Age of Anxiety, written between 1947 - 1949, inspired by a poem by Auden, describes people's uncertain and changeable feelings after World War II. The poem's about four young people drowning their fears and loneliness in a New York bar, desperately seeking stability and faith in a world they no longer recognise.

7th Sunday & Monday Symphonic Concerts

Alte Oper

One of the leading mezzo-sopranos of our time is back in Frankfurt, where she thrilled audiences with Sesto (role debut) in La clemenza di Tito, Charlotte inWerther, Marguerite, in a new La damnation de Faust, and Sara in concert performances of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, for this recital with her friend and accompanist Julius Drake, with whom she gave two other unforgettable recitals here. This British artist is a regular guest at leading houses in Europe and the USA, singing roles including Carmen, Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), Ariodante, Xerxes, Agrippina, Ruggiero (Alcina), Dejanira (Hercules), Madame de Croissy, Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites) and Cassandra (Les Troyens). Much sought-after as a Lieder singer she appears regularly in recital at venues including the Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Konzerthaus in Vienna and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam - there are lots of prize-winning recordings to choose from, full of thrilling and profound interpretations of Lieder you love. Alice Coote received an OBE for her services to music in 2018.

Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano) & Julius Drake (piano)

Richard Wagner revolutionised music with his version of theTristan story, popular since the Middle Ages. His opening Tristan chord paved the way for modern music and encapsulates the core of this tragic love story – an insatiable longing, ceaselessly striving for relief. »Only in the face of death are the lovers able to give themselves unrestrainedly to each other«, said Katharina Thoma, focussing on the subconscious, their past lives, loss and the meaning for life of both protagonists. She explores the reasons for loneliness, which go beyond societal difficulties and external influences in Johannes Leiacker’s clear, focussed space.

Tristan und Isolde

Joseph Calleja is one of the most sought-after singers alive today. His supple, beguiling voice, often compared to legendary tenors including Gigli, Pavarotti and Caruso, has taken him to leading opera houses all over the world. During the 2024/25 season engagements included Rodolfo in La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Semperoper in Dresden, and concerts for the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, in Shanghai's Performing Arts Center (his debut in China) and the Musiikkitalo in Helsinki. Now he's back at Oper Frankfurt, where roles he thrilled audiences with included Gounod's Roméo, the title role in Mascagni's L’amico Fritz (in concert), Rodolfo, Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Don José (Carmen), and Nadir and Ruggero in concert performances of Bizet's Les pêcheurs des perles and Puccini's La rondine, and a recital with Tatiana Lisnic, for this recital. The Maltese government made him their country's Cultural Ambassador in 2012 and France bestowed the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on him in 2024. Welcome back, Joseph Calleja!

Joseph Calleja (tenor) & Sarah Tysman (piano)

Turandot refuses to marry by setting an impossible condition: Whoever wants her for his wife must solve three riddles. Anyone who can’t, is publicly executed. Prince Calaf, a refugee stranded in Peking, falls hopelessly under Turandot’s spell. The Princess is shaken to the core when he manages to answer all three. Turandot unleashes a clear struggle for power, which ultimately claims innocent victims.

Turandot

Who are we, who do we want to be? How far will longing for more power, wealth and a more elevated position in society make peope go? Triggered by a curious encounter, which he thinks is a prophesy, Macbeth’s wife goads him into murdering King Duncan. The throne falls to him, but remorse and hallucinations throw him deeper and deeper into turmoil, while Lady Macbeth urges him to carry out more atrocious deeds. But her feelings of guilt ending up destroying her too. R.B. Schlather’s production traces the extraordinary actuality of the protagonists, just as Verdi was fascinated by Shakespeare’s King and Queen. The Director studied the gruesome events surrounding a childless couple in an elegant but cheerless atmosphere of an imposing residence: global politics mirrored in private lives. In the end the oppressed put a violent end to the Macbeth’s autocratic regime.

Macbeth

It ain't easy to speak while you're playing an instrument, without getting stuck or losing the rhythm. Jazz musicians sometimes can.  ‘Speaking Drums’ takes another approach with the drummer speaking rhythmic syllables, passing the rhythm on to his instrument, teaching it to speak, so to speak, until it can alone. The first two movements are based on three poems by Sándor Weöres, and the third on a poem by Jayadeva. An unusual work to look forward by the Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös, who died last year, and Alexej Gerassimez, who returns for another concert in this series this season.

8th Sunday & Monday Symphonic Concerts

During Simon Bailey's years as a much loved member of the Ensemble in Frankfurt his many roles included Peter (the Father) (Hänsel und Gretel), Mr Redburn (Billy Budd), Gunther (Götterdämmerung), Klingsor (Parsifal), Gelone (Cesti's L’Orontea - get the CD! OehmsCassics), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), Orest (Elektra), Křenek's Adam Ochsenschwanz (Heavyweight or the Glory of the Nation) and the title role in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle. This British artist's recent engagements have included Achilla (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Don Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Mozart's Figaro, Leporello (Don Giovanni), Kutusov (Prokofiev's War and Peace), Méphistophélès (La damnation de Faust), the four Villains (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Jochanaan (Salome), Balstrode (Peter Grimes) and the Judge of the Dead (Lucullus' Condemnation) at places including Wiesbaden, Stuttgart, Basel, Strasbourg, Brussels, London and Milan. This winner of the 2018 Wales Theatre Awards added the roles of Wotan and the Wanderer to his repertoire after enjoying great success with them at the Tirol Festival in Erl, in a new Ring directed by Brigitte Fassbaender. Now we can all look forward to hearing this wonderful singer and friend again, in recital!

Happy New Ears

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