Operadagen Rotterdam 2018 Launches Programme And Ticket Sales

Operadagen Rotterdam, the festival for contemporary opera and music theatre, will be held from 18 through 27 May 2018. The programme was launched today as online ticket sales commence. 100+ performances can be enjoyed in Rotterdam's major theatres as well as at exciting inside and outside locations across the city. This year's festival theme is Heroism, with narratives revolving around the challenges and trials inherent to every hero's journey. Operadagen Rotterdam is an important meeting place for opera and music theatre professionals from around the world. This year the festival will host a programme developed by the international network organisation Opera Europa for the second time. Operadagen Rotterdam awards prizes to makers of innovative music theatre during the GALA!, now in its second edition.

Director Wouter Van Looy's music-theatrical spectacle Earth Diver in Nieuwe Luxor Theater opens the festival. It contains powerful video images, garlanded by narrator Phil Minton's words and Heinrich Schütz's comforting baroque music. The latter is performed by the famous German singers of the magnificent choir Chorwerk Ruhr as they weave into and around the spectators. The performance is co-produced by the Ruhrtriennale.

International highlights
Operadagen Rotterdam closely monitors what is going on in society. The festival is brimming with stirring and gripping stories, which originate all over the world - from Argentina to Switzerland and from Tanzania to Ukraine. The virtuoso performance IYOV (Ukraine) plays all registers and is inspired by the Book of Job. The Swiss director/musician Thom Luz based his piece When I Die on the true story of the musically uneducated Rosemary Brown who in 1964 was requested to perform unfinished works by the ghosts of deceased composers, including Liszt, Bach, and Brahms.

New compositions
The world-famous composer (and special festival guest) Gavin Bryars wrote new music for Calamity/Billy: A two-part paradise lost that features two Wild West heroes: Billy the Kid meets Calamity Jane, the (in)famous woman who bested the men of her time. Operadagen Rotterdam and de Doelen present the world premiere of Klas Torstensson's completed triptych De Christina Cyclus about the Swedish Queen Christina I (1626-1689). Robert Zuidam, one of today's most fascinating composers in the Netherlands, set to music several sonnets about the Queen of Scots that were written by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky for Mary Stuart: In my end is my beginning.

Classics and young talent
The renowned Argentine conductor Leonardo García Alarcón and his Cappella Mediterranea are returning to the festival with star soprano Mariana Flores. They perform Carmina Latina, a production about cultural exchange in times of colonisation and suppression. Classic operas are transformed into something new. The young Flemish director Tom Goossens has given a makeover to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's and Lorenzo Da Ponte's Così fan tutte as Così and there is a beautiful version of Beethoven's Fidelio for children 6 and over. The festival is also a platform for raging talents such as Tijdelijke Samenscholing, Nienke Nasserian Nillesen, and Les Âmes Perdues.

Ring of Resilience: BEAST
As Wagner predicted in Götterdämmerung water is heading for the city! Together with the people of Rotterdam, director Arlon Luijten is building an ark that can withstand the future. It is part of the four-year urban project Ring of Resilience in the context of Resilient Cities, which is inspired by Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung. The audience will contribute to the design during BEAST, a magical opera playground that offers singing, dancing, and escape routes for the entire family.

Ticket sales
Visit several performances if you want to get the most out of Operadagen Rotterdam 2018. Ordering combination tickets (which include dinner) or package deals (three performances) comes with an attractive discount. After purchasing the Operadagen pass at a one-off payment of €40 (solo / one person) or €70 (duo / two persons), you pay just €10 per ticket for all performances. Plus, the first performance you select is free with the Operadagen pass! Tickets and package deals are available online from today at www.operadagenrotterdam.nl

About Operadagen Rotterdam
Operadagen Rotterdam is an international opera and music theatre festival with contemporary, innovative, and ground-breaking productions, created by young and adventurous makers from all over the world. Operadagen Rotterdam presents stories about pushing boundaries and the search for a new identity under the overall festival theme, Lost & Found, which runs from 2017 through 2020. The first instalment in 2017 was called Departures. 2018 sees the next part, Heroism. Operadagen Rotterdam is a member of the FEDORA-platform. For more information on the next edition go to www.operadagenrotterdam.nl.

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