About us

The international standing of the Cologne Opera has manifested itself time and again since the grand opening of the opera house on Offenbachplatz in 1957. At that time, Cologne productions such as "Oberon" with Leonie Rysanek and Karl Liebl and the world premiere of Wolfgang Fortner's "Blood Wedding" were accompanied by guest performances by La Scala in Milan with Maria Callas and the Paris Opéra Ballet, among others. The era of Oscar Fritz Schuh as artistic director and Wolfgang Sawallisch as GMD (1959 - 1964) saw events such as the production of Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen", directed by Wieland Wagner. A distinguished ensemble, complemented by the occasional engagement of high-calibre singers, has always been a decisive criterion for the opera house's work. With the International Opera Studio, the Cologne Opera has also had the oldest institution for the promotion of young talent of this kind in the German-speaking world since 1961, which has launched the careers of numerous singers such as Anne Schwanewilms, Helen Donath, Samuel Youn and Matthias Klink.
The Cologne Opera is currently a venue for relevant and innovative musical theatre of the highest quality. The theatre aspires to be an open opera house for the citizens of Cologne and sees itself as a young and international opera house based on its tradition. With important premieres and first performances of contemporary works such as "Die tote Stadt" by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (première 1920), "Der Zwerg" by Alexander von Zemlinskij (première 1922), "Bluthochzeit" by Wolfgang Fortner (première 1957), "Die Soldaten" by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (première 1965), "SONNTAG" from "LICHT" by Karlheinz Stockhausen (world première 2011), "Solaris" by Detlev Glanert (DE 2014) and "Tree of Codes" by Liza Lim (world première 2016), the cathedral city has always provided strong artistic impetus linked to current events. In 2012, an international jury of critics from the trade journal "Opernwelt" awarded Cologne Opera the coveted title of "Opera House of the Year" for its artistic work. In 2019, Cologne Opera was honoured with the 2018 Cologne Culture Prize for its production of "Die Soldaten". Guest performances have taken the theatre to places such as China, Iraq and Oman in recent years. Oper Köln is a sought-after co-production partner (Salzburg Festival / Bregenz Festival / Teatro Real Madrid / Theater an der Wien and others).

Since the 2015.16 season, the StaatenHaus am Rheinpark in Cologne-Deutz has served as the Cologne Opera's interim home.