Anticipation levels were high. After three years of preparation, the designated General Music Director of the Oper Leipzig, Tobias Wolff, together with his artistic management team, introduced his debut season's programme on Thursday. Also present were the new Opera Director Cornelia Preissinger, Ballet Director Mario Schröder, Director of the Musikalische Komödie Torsten Rose, as well as Chief Dramaturge Marlene Hahn and Chief Set Designer Dirk Becker.
The season opens with a “360° Festival” and the Leipzig Opera Ball. The Musikalische Komödie kicks off the round of premieres with “The Dollar Princess” and also celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the composer Leo Fall. The romantic magic opera “Undine” by Albert Lortzing marks both the opening of the season at the opera house and a larger cycle that will lead up to a Lortzing Festival in 2026. The first ballet premiere “Marin/Schröder” pays tribute to the French dance theatre legend Maguy Marin.
With “Giulio Cesare in Egitto” by George Frideric Handel, Wolff harks back to his Göttingen Handel past and, with the co-production, simultaneously forges new networks with theatres in Paris, Montpellier and Toulouse. After 50 years, Giuseppe Verdi's “Otello” is finally back on the programme, and Benjamin Britten's masterpiece “Peter Grimes” receives its Leipzig premiere. The long-awaited new production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's repertoire hit “Don Giovanni” will be staged in December 2022.
The Leipzig Ballet, together with vocal artist Harry Jeff - Reeps100, is set to explore new soundscapes and mesmerise the entire family with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's immortal story “The Little Prince”.
The Musikalische Komödie continues its cycle with works by Emmerich Kálmán in “The Violet of Montmartre” and will score with bonafide audience favourites in the musical “Anatevka”. “Arriving late to happiness” is the title of a winter revue created especially for the Musikalische Komödie.
360° diversity, digitalisation and sustainability
Newly introduced is the section “360°” through which the new team aims at reaching all people and generations of Leipzig's urban society and addressing topics such as diversity, digitalisation and sustainability. It starts off with a conference on the topic of sustainability and theatre, the major youth projects “Neighbourhood Opera” and “Future:NOW!” as well as performances with audio description as a new feature at the opera. A number of new formats for audiences of all ages with such promising titles as “Venus Nights” or “Quick&Dirty” round off the programme.
“My team and I put a lot of heart and soul into creating a programme that we are convinced Leipzig audiences will love”, announced the designated General Music Director, Tobias Wolff, enthusiastically. The stories that hand-picked directing teams and choreographers will tell together with the outstanding members of the ensemble and selected guests will be “sensuous, compelling and poignant”.
The press conference took place in the decoration studios of the Oper Leipzig in the Dessauer Straße. For good reason: “Craftsmanship is a cornerstone of our theatre business. If we want to work more sustainably with existing materials in the future, we need skilled craftsmen and women!”
Advance ticket sales for the season begin on June 1, 2022. All performance dates and updated information can be found on the Internet at www.oper-leipzig.de
The Oper Leipzig follows the tradition of over 325 years of musical theatre in Leipzig: in 1693, the first opera house on the Brühl was opened as the third civic music theatre in Europe after Venice and Hamburg. Since 1840, the world-renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra has played for all performances of the opera and the Leipzig ballet. In addition to today's opera house on Augustusplatz, built in 1960, Oper Leipzig includes the Musikalische Komödie in the Lindenau district, a special venue for musicals and operettas. With around 700 employees, it is the city's largest in-house cultural institution and comprises five mainstays: the opera, the Musikalische Komödie, the Leipzig Ballet, the 360° outreach division and the theatre craft studios, which work for all of the city's theatres.
Tobias Wolff will assume the position of General Music Director and Chief Executive Officer of Oper Leipzig as of the 2022/23 season. The studied musician and cultural manager became known as Managing Director of the Göttingen International Handel Festival, one of the world's oldest festivals for baroque music, and also as Co-founder and Spokesman of the Forum Musik Festival, an association of over 100 festival organisations throughout Germany. His Leipzig team includes Dr. Cornelia Preissinger as the new Opera Director and Vice General Music Director, as well as Chief Dramaturge Marlene Hahn. Music Director will be Christoph Gedschold. Tobias Wolff is also looking forward to continuing the collaboration with Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer Mario Schröder and with Torsten Rose as Director of the Musikalische Komödie.
The season opens with a “360° Festival” and the Leipzig Opera Ball. The Musikalische Komödie kicks off the round of premieres with “The Dollar Princess” and also celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the composer Leo Fall. The romantic magic opera “Undine” by Albert Lortzing marks both the opening of the season at the opera house and a larger cycle that will lead up to a Lortzing Festival in 2026. The first ballet premiere “Marin/Schröder” pays tribute to the French dance theatre legend Maguy Marin.
With “Giulio Cesare in Egitto” by George Frideric Handel, Wolff harks back to his Göttingen Handel past and, with the co-production, simultaneously forges new networks with theatres in Paris, Montpellier and Toulouse. After 50 years, Giuseppe Verdi's “Otello” is finally back on the programme, and Benjamin Britten's masterpiece “Peter Grimes” receives its Leipzig premiere. The long-awaited new production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's repertoire hit “Don Giovanni” will be staged in December 2022.
The Leipzig Ballet, together with vocal artist Harry Jeff - Reeps100, is set to explore new soundscapes and mesmerise the entire family with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's immortal story “The Little Prince”.
The Musikalische Komödie continues its cycle with works by Emmerich Kálmán in “The Violet of Montmartre” and will score with bonafide audience favourites in the musical “Anatevka”. “Arriving late to happiness” is the title of a winter revue created especially for the Musikalische Komödie.
360° diversity, digitalisation and sustainability
Newly introduced is the section “360°” through which the new team aims at reaching all people and generations of Leipzig's urban society and addressing topics such as diversity, digitalisation and sustainability. It starts off with a conference on the topic of sustainability and theatre, the major youth projects “Neighbourhood Opera” and “Future:NOW!” as well as performances with audio description as a new feature at the opera. A number of new formats for audiences of all ages with such promising titles as “Venus Nights” or “Quick&Dirty” round off the programme.
“My team and I put a lot of heart and soul into creating a programme that we are convinced Leipzig audiences will love”, announced the designated General Music Director, Tobias Wolff, enthusiastically. The stories that hand-picked directing teams and choreographers will tell together with the outstanding members of the ensemble and selected guests will be “sensuous, compelling and poignant”.
The press conference took place in the decoration studios of the Oper Leipzig in the Dessauer Straße. For good reason: “Craftsmanship is a cornerstone of our theatre business. If we want to work more sustainably with existing materials in the future, we need skilled craftsmen and women!”
Advance ticket sales for the season begin on June 1, 2022. All performance dates and updated information can be found on the Internet at www.oper-leipzig.de
The Oper Leipzig follows the tradition of over 325 years of musical theatre in Leipzig: in 1693, the first opera house on the Brühl was opened as the third civic music theatre in Europe after Venice and Hamburg. Since 1840, the world-renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra has played for all performances of the opera and the Leipzig ballet. In addition to today's opera house on Augustusplatz, built in 1960, Oper Leipzig includes the Musikalische Komödie in the Lindenau district, a special venue for musicals and operettas. With around 700 employees, it is the city's largest in-house cultural institution and comprises five mainstays: the opera, the Musikalische Komödie, the Leipzig Ballet, the 360° outreach division and the theatre craft studios, which work for all of the city's theatres.
Tobias Wolff will assume the position of General Music Director and Chief Executive Officer of Oper Leipzig as of the 2022/23 season. The studied musician and cultural manager became known as Managing Director of the Göttingen International Handel Festival, one of the world's oldest festivals for baroque music, and also as Co-founder and Spokesman of the Forum Musik Festival, an association of over 100 festival organisations throughout Germany. His Leipzig team includes Dr. Cornelia Preissinger as the new Opera Director and Vice General Music Director, as well as Chief Dramaturge Marlene Hahn. Music Director will be Christoph Gedschold. Tobias Wolff is also looking forward to continuing the collaboration with Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer Mario Schröder and with Torsten Rose as Director of the Musikalische Komödie.
