Frankfurt am Main Nightlife Tips by yooperprof

Nightlife Spot: Jazzkeller

In business continuously since 1952, the Jazzkeller oozes with tradition and atmosphere in its cozy basement hideaway. I came here on a Wednesday night jam session, and the place was bopping! Lots and lots of young people in the audience: it makes one wonder if the future of jazz is in Europe, not the USA. If you come for the jam, get here early for a good seat.

They have a full program of live music on just about every night of the week. Check out their website.

Centrally located just steps away from the old Frankfurt Oper, and near one of Frankfurt's toniest shopping streets, the Jazzkeller is still completely unpretentious.

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Theme: Live Music
Dress Code: casual
Phone: 069/28 85 37
Address: Kleine Bockenheimer Str. 18a
Website: http://www.jazzkeller.com

Nightlife Spot: Frankfurt Opera

Spending a night at the Frankfurt Opera is a great experience - especially if you are in the company of VT-local and Opera Educator Extraordinaire Nemorino. If you're planning a trip to Frankfurt, and if you're at all interested in opera, be sure to contact Don and try to persuade him to meet you for a cultural night at this leading music theater. (It probably won't require much persuasion to get Don to come out - he's one of the biggest opera buffs I've ever met, as well as being a great VT-er and a veritable fount of information about Frankfurt and its environs.)

Opera in Germany receives significant governmental subsidies, which means that the seasons are long and are also full of productions that would never be put on in the more cost-conscious opera houses of North America. You might be able to see one of those obscure 19th century pieces that you've never even heard of before! The first time I was here, Nemorino and I went to see "Macbeth" - but not Verdi's well-known version, instead Ernest Bloch's! Later, when I returned to Frankfurt in October 2007, Don met me here for a production of Verdi's "Don Carlos."

The theater is medium-sized, which means the acoustics are excellent, there's not really a bad-seat in the house, and the singers generally don't have to strain as much to be heard as they do in such enormous "barns" as the Met in New York or the Civic Opera House in Chicago. And ticket prices are quite reasonable for opera - again, thanks to the German taxpayer's subsidy of "high culture."

The company's website is excellent and very helpful, and buying tickets from abroad is simple and safe. You can even choose the exact seat that you wish to buy!

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Theme: Theater
Dress Code: people tend to be respectable, but not really dressy
Website: http://www.oper-frankfurt.com/index.cfm?siteid=0