"Operas in Frankfurt am Main: Old, New and Open-Air" Top 5 Page for this destination Frankfurt am Main by Nemorino
Frankfurt am Main Travel Guide: 2,073 reviews and 3,532 photos
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 from Finland, Anna Ryberg from Sweden, Juanita Lascarro from Columbia, Magnus Baldvinsson from Iceland, Elza van den Heever from South Africa, Aris Argiris from Greece, Alfred Kim and Sungkon Kim from Korea, Paula Murrihy from Ireland, Frank van Aken from the Netherlands, Simon Bailey from England and Peter Marsh, Michael McCown and Brenda Rae 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.
Update: In 2010 the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra under the leadership of General Music Director Sebastian Weigle was voted "Orchestra of the Year" by the critics of Opernwelt magazine. The Frankfurt Opera came in second in the voting for "Opera House of the Year", after Basel, Switzerland.
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.
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.
- Pros:Great opera! (Good cycling, too.)
- In a nutshell:The secret opera capital of the world!
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Comments (137)
Reading your great opera tips I was looking forward to watching a performance during my visit to Frankfurt (July 7-9), but unfortunately there's nothing on then.. Any suggestions? Ilan
I would like to visit Germany someday...
Hi Don! Will be spending 2 weeks in Germany with my aunt who lives in nearby Hofheim, so am looking forward to finally exploring Frankfurt a bit more on this trip! Thanks for your tips / Jess ;-)
Sounds like a screenplay waiting to be written!
It is the season for updates. Prices of museums increased, opera and concert houses also I suppose. I saw you were an anarchist(?) demonstrator in other times!
update 02/17/11. Many new tips since last 2006 read. Don, what a wonderful journey in & around Frankfurt I especially loved the L'Orfeo Opera, the information about Wagner, the Hammering Man [glad he's fixed!], the US Consulate.
wonderful page, really enjoyed reading thru with all the opera stories. the garden house looks like a totally relaxing venue for shows.
We got more than 20 cm of snow last night... Time to take pictures for "Ontario winter"....
What a fantastic page, Don, on Frankfurt. Better than any guide. My brother is a publisher and goes to the Book fair every year. I will tell him about your tips, I know he would like them.
Fantastic information about the opera scen in Frankfurt! I have only visited Frankfurt for a few hours between flights but had a nice walk around! Came back to read more! Cycling through the Nidda Valley sounds to have been a good way to get to work!
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