Season 2025/26

For the first time, we, Andrés Orozco-Estrada as the new General Music Director of the City of Cologne and Hein Mulders, Artistic Director of Oper Köln, would like to welcome you to a new season together as a team. We look forward to an inspiring collaboration and many extraordinary and high-calibre opera evenings. This season, the operas tell us about the possibilities of human beings to shape their world, and so we experience emotional stories that allow us to experience life in its many forms.

The 2025/26 opening premiere will be MANON LESCAUT, the work that made composer Giacomo Puccini world-famous. Puccini was enraptured by the unconditional love that the literary lovers Manon Lescaut and Chevalier Des Grieux pursue, transcending all social barriers. But Manon remains caught between an empty life of luxury and true love. It is a great Italian opera and a passionate tragedy that owes its inspiration not least to the music of Richard Wagner.Wagner's THE RHEINGOLD opens a new Cologne RING OF THE NIBELUNG, which we are creating over three seasons. DAS RHEINGOLD and DIE WALKÜRE are both on the programme in the first season. Paul-Georg Dittrich is staging the monumental tetralogy, which tells of the origin of the world, the driving forces behind its development and its downfall. Everything in Wagner's RING is focussed on the future, its opportunities and its dangers. In the legendary eve of THE RHEINGOLD, where gods and natural beings act instead of humans, the theft of the gold and its processing into a ring of power trigger far-reaching developments. For Richard Wagner, the pursuit of power means envy, lies, hatred and violence. The composer contrasts this with the love and compassion of the Valkyrie Brünnhilde. DIE WALKÜRE is the work in which Wotan's daughter breaks away from the world of the gods, prepares herself for a new life as a loving human being and finds her own way.

Here, the opposing forces to unleashed greed are set in RHEINGOLD. Baroque opera is once again represented by George Frideric Handel, this time with one of his most famous oratorios: in SAUL we see the powerful biblical king despairing of the integrity and persuasiveness of the young David. Consumed by envy of David's successes, Saul sees him as his worst enemy and loses his mind. Barrie Kosky's production of Saul's story for the Glyndebourne Festival is as exciting and abysmal as a Shakespearean drama. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's LE NOZZE DI FIGARO unfolds a musical social panorama of the feudal age at the end of the 18th century. Yet the people in it seem very familiar to us, so timeless and vivid are all the intrigues and stories that aim to thwart Count Almaviva's plans so that Susanna and Figaro can finally marry. Hardly any other opera shows so comedically, so seriously and with so much love how people create their own world. PICTURE A DAY LIKE THIS is the new work by contemporary British composer George Benjamin (WRITTEN ON SKIN).

Together with the playwright Martin Crimp, Benjamin created a modern musical fairy tale. It revolves around a desperate woman in search of happiness. She meets lots of supposedly happy people who are all unhappy themselves. In the end, however, there is one encounter that gives her hope. The Cologne Opera co-produced the world premiere production at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Following a major European tour, it is now coming to the Staatenhaus as a German premiere.ERNANI is another early work by Giuseppe Verdi, one of his most frequently performed during his lifetime. It is based on Victor Hugo's most famous drama, whose title character established the type of romantic hero. The widely ramified plot, centred around Emperor Charles V, even leads to the vaults beneath Aachen Cathedral. Love seems to triumph, but in the end Ernani meets the revenge of his enemy. The final premiere is TANCREDI by Gioacchino Rossini, another breakthrough work by a great Italian composer. Today, Rossini is primarily recognised as a composer of comic operas, but during his lifetime, serious operas such as TANCREDI made him famous. One marvellous melody follows another in this opera.

Committed to bel canto, Rossini composes a touching romantic love story reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet between the conflicting lines of two families. In difficult times, only love remains the great hope, and the revivals include some of the most popular titles of recent seasons: THE MAGIC FLUTE, TURANDOT, LA CENERENTOLA and HÄNSEL UND GRETEL. Guest dance performances by major contemporary choreographers and companies at the Staatenhaus complete the programme. The Cologne Children's Opera presents Elisabeth Naske's incredibly exciting WUNSCHPUNSCH opera based on the book by Michael Ende. In addition, the children's opera is collaborating with the COMEDIA Theatre for the first time on an inclusive opera project, FREIKUGELN, an adaptation of Freischütz in 5 dimensions for people with and without hearing impairments. The programme is complemented by two mobile productions for nurseries (NILS KARLSSON DÄUMLING) and primary schools (MAX UND MORITZ), and the theatre education team from Oper.Stadt.Schule invites you to take part in an extensive programme of intergenerational projects, events and workshops relating to the repertoire and opera as an art form. The 2025/26 season will once again be staged entirely at the Staatenhaus. From 2026, we will focus on Offenbachplatz and build an artistic bridge back across the Rhine to the city centre with various smaller formats. While the opera house is approaching its opening, the Staatenhaus will be renovated step by step from 2026. We look forward to travelling this artistic path together with you. Curtain up for the new season!