Düsseldorf Opera House Announces Dates for 2015/16 Season

Ten premieres, including six new productions and one world premiere for young audiences, await opera fans at the "Deutsche Oper am Rhein," Düsseldorf's Opera House and one of the premier venues in Germany.

Düsseldorf, Germany - Opera fans in Düsseldorf get to enjoy more high-quality performances than in many other cities, because the company that runs Düsseldorf's Opera House - German Opera on the Rhine - stages performances in 2 cities on the Rhine and is able to fill a season's program with extraordinary variety and quality. The 2015/16 season is no exception.

Opera highlights and premiere dates:

"Arabella" by Richard Strauss (September 9, 2015). The first new production of the season adds another Strauss masterpiece to the venue's celebrated repertoire of Strauss performances that began in 2009. Arabella is directed by Tatjana Gürbaca, who made a name for herself in Düsseldorf with an earlier production of "Salome."

Italian opera is represented with new productions of Giacomo Puccini's "Turandot" (December 5, 2015) and Guiseppe Verdi's "Don Carlo" (February 13, 2016). The new production of "Turandot" is done in cooperation with the National Kaohsiung Center of Arts, Taiwan, and gets a new spin as director Huan-Hsiung Li, co-founder of one of Taiwan's most popular and innovative theatre companies, views 'Turandot' from the perspective of his own cultural heritage.

"Don Carlo" will be directed by the Flemish director Guy Joosten, whose previous interpretations of Strauss' "Die Frau ohne Schatten" (The Woman without a Shadow) and Poulenc's "Dialogues des Carmé­lites"(Dialogues of the Carmelites) for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein have received rave reviews.

"The Golden Cockerel" (Der goldene Hahn) - April 15, 2016. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera is considered one of the wittiest and musically sumptuous operas in the Russian repertoire. It will be directed by Dmitry Bertman, who made his name as the opera director and founder of the Helikon Opera in Moscow.

"The Merry Wives of Windsor "(Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor) - June 24, 2016. The production of Otto Nicolai's comic-fantastical opera is by the creative team formed around Dietrich W. Hilsdorf and Director of Music Axel Kober - a partnership that is continued after the much-acclaimed "Ariadne auf Naxos." The same team is also working on Wagner's "Ring der Nibelungen," a new cycle that will start at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in June 2017.

"The Snow Queen" (Die Schneekönigin) - April 23, 2016. Based on Hans Christian Andersen's beloved fairy tale, The Snow Queen will be the third new opera for family audiences that the Opera House's General Director Prof. Christoph Meyer has commissioned in cooperation with Theater Dortmund and Theater Bonn under the theme "Young Operas Rhine-Ruhr" ("Junge Opern Rhein-Ruhr"). This world premiere for young audiences is accompanied by workshops, classes, and talks for an interactive experience.

"What's Next?" by US composer Elliott Carter (his only piece of music theater) and "Trouble in Tahiti" by Leonard Bernstein (Bernstein's first opera) are two productions shown together (premiere: June 4, 2016) under the venue's "Young Directors'" program, a new platform for emerging directors (Tibor Torell and Phillipp Westerbarkei, respectively).

"The Circus Princess" (Die Zirkusprinzessin) - November 13, 2015. Emmerich Kálmán's stormy operetta will come to Düsseldorf after its success in Duisburg.

A repertoire of 19 further operas marks the return of Offenbach's "Les contes d'Hoffmann," Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" and Zemlinsky's one act opera "Der Zwerg" to the opera house stage. The programme is enhanced by a Summer Gala with star guest El?na Garan?a at Opernhaus Düsseldorf and two fundraiser evenings supporting the "Deutsche AIDS-Stiftung" (German AIDS Foundation).

Musical Direction and Ensemble

The comprehensive opera and ballet programme will be performed by a strong artistic ensemble. Director of Music Axel Kober is working with his colleagues Lukas Beikircher and Wen-Pin Chien, as well as new resident conductor Giuliano Betta and Aziz Shokhakimov. They will work with the Düsseldorfer Symphonic Orchestra. In addition to the 51 solo singers from the company, numerous guest soloists, the seven members of the opera studios, and the chorus of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein can be seen.

For a complete program and to purchase tickets for the 2015/16 season, please visit

www.operamrhein.de or call +49 (0) 211.89 25 211.

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