| Page Views: 31,934 Last Visit to Frankfurt am Main: - I Live Here | Operas in Frankfurt am Main: Old, New and Open-Air by Nemorino - last update: Sep 8, 2009 |
My favorite place | Frankfurt Opera and Eurotower, from Main Tower |
My absolutely favorite place in Frankfurt am Main is the opera house.
No, I don't mean the old opera house.
I mean the new opera house on Willy-Brandt-Platz,
where they put on real operas several times a week.
The Frankfurt Opera has become one of Germany's finest in the past few years. It was voted "Opera House of the Year" in 2003, and has received several similar honors since then. It has a brilliant international ensemble with fine singers like Jenny Carlstedt and Jussi Myllys from Finland, Anna Ryberg and Elin Rombo from Sweden, Juanita Lascarro from Columbia, Magnus Baldvinsson from Iceland, Stella Grigorian from Georgia (the country, not the state), Frank van Aken from the Netherlands, Simon Bailey from England, Zelijko Lucic from Serbia, Danielle Halbwachs from Mauritius and Peter Marsh, Michael McCown, Gregory Frank and Nathaniel Webster from the United States.
One of the world's outstanding opera administrators, Bernd Loebe, has been General Director (Intendant) of the Frankfurt Opera since 2002. Before that he was Artistic Director of the opera house La Monnaie in Brussels throughout the 1990s. |
| Before the opera, Willy-Brandt-Platz |
Another nice thing about the Frankfurt Opera is that there is no strict dress code. You CAN get dressed up if you feel like it, but you don't have to. If you are travelling and living out of a backpack you probably won't have any formal attire with you in any case, so just get out the smartest looking clothes you have with you, and try to borrow an iron before you come. Often there is a reasonably high percentage of young people in the audience, and they dress the way they always do when they are going out and want to look good.
I'm a trifle older so I put on a jacket and tie when I go to the opera, but not a suit because I always go there by bicycle.
Frankfurt OperaTalk |
| Baritone Nathaniel Webster at Frankfurt OperaTalk |
Germany's only English-language opera appreciation course begins for the thirteenth time on Monday, April 12, 2010, at the Frankfurt Adult Education Center (VHS). Native and non-native speakers of English are welcome to enroll. Sometimes an English-speaking singer or musician will be on hand to answer questions about current opera productions and about life on the international opera circuit.
If you are in the Frankfurt am Main area and are interested in opera, this might be just the thing for you. Click here for details, or have a look at the opera courses at www.vhs.frankfurt.de. (This is a non-commercial public-service adult education center.)
Thanks to publicopera for letting me use this photo of Baritone Nathanial Webster and me at Frankfurt OperaTalk.
If you speak German you might also want to ask about my German-language opera appreciation courses, which are called "Opern-Gespräche" and "Willkommen in der Welt der Oper".
Changes to this page
Since this Frankfurt am Main page was starting to get somewhat large and unwieldy, I have moved all the Local Customs tips (and a few others) over to my Germany page. These are tips that apply to the whole country of Germany, not only to the city of Frankfurt.
Also I have moved the Frankfurt Skyline Countdown over to my Land Hessen page.
Opera in the summer
If you come to Frankfurt in the summer you may find that the opera is closed for their summer vacation, but don't worry, there there are some alternatives.
For instance, you could take a 37-minute train ride down to Mannheim, since their opera season lasts two weeks longer than Frankfurt's. That's why Frankfurt opera goers tend to turn up in Mannheim during the second half of July, if they aren't off at some kind of festival or other.
You might also be able to see a performance at Carlos Krause's Opera Academy in Bad Orb or an open-air production by Jeunesses Musicales in Weikersheim.
Another good alternative is open-air opera in the beautiful setting of the Palmengarten put on by the Frankfurt Kammeroper or Chamber Opera.
As long as it doesn't rain too hard, that is.
But if someone tries to sell you a ticket to an opera at the Konstabler Wache, tell them you'd love to come but you have something really important to do that evening. |
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| Pros: | "Great opera! (Good cycling, too.)" | | In A Nutshell: | "The secret opera capital of the world!" |
Nemorino's Frankfurt am Main Travel Tips
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 Comments for Nemorino about Frankfurt am Main | | | | |
omidamini Wed Oct 21, 2009 06:37 UTC
Thanks , i never been in Opera ut after read your Frankfurt Page , i think will change my mind. I hope see you here. | Tom_In_Madison Fri Aug 7, 2009 13:23 UTC
Nice, my cousin married a German guy and now lives here. We have a Swedish restaurant and they have lingonberries for the pancakes--good when properly prepared. | gilabrand Sun Aug 2, 2009 07:41 UTC
The closest I've ever gotten is the Frankfurt airport, en route to Israel. Sounds like there is plenty to do! | 36waterfalls Sat Jul 18, 2009 12:16 UTC
When even Death goes on strike it's SERIOUS! Great new tip on the Bockenheimer Depot Don! |
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