Prof. Ulf Schirmer, Intendant of the Oper Leipzig since 2011 and General Music Director since 2009, introduced the upcoming season’s program on 15 July 2021, shortly before the end of the current season. Next season’s schedule of events culminates in the »Wagner 22« festival, which will feature all 13 of Richard Wagner’s works for the stage, accompanied by a rich supporting program of artistic and academic presentations. The festival also includes an open-air weekend, which will mark Schirmer’s simultaneous thanks and farewell to Leipzig. But before the festival can take place, there are still two opera premieres that need to take to the stage: Sir David Pountney, the former Intendant of the Bregenz Festival and Artistic Director of the Welsh National Opera, will direct Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The new Lohengrin production will be in the capable hands of Katharina Wagner, Wagner’s greatgranddaughter and director of the Bayreuth Festival, and, as originally planned, in a co-production with the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona.

Ulf Schirmer notes, »The concept of a performance series of Wagner’s entire artistic output, to take place in his city of birth, was originally the idea of Gustav Brecher, Leipzig’s avant-garde opera director during the Roaring Twenties. Now, thanks to our profound collaboration with the Gewandhausorchester, our numerous partners and wonderful guests from around the world, and our excellent ensemble of soloists and our tried-and-true opera chorus, we can realize Wagner 22 next summer. And before that, we can offer our audience a rich and varied program of events, with highlights from each of our divisions.« Dr. Skadi Jennicke, Deputy Mayor for Cultural Affairs in Leipzig opened the presentation: »Together with the Leipzig Opera, I am really looking forward to a new season full of musical highlights! This includes the three-week festival WAGNER 22 and the open-air festival on Augustusplatz, which Prof. Schirmer organizes as a farewell and in gratitude to all residents of Leipzig – a music city, that without him would not be as internationally renowned as it is.«

Please note that this year the Oper Leipzig calendar of events is only publishing performances that take place in the two large auditoriums at the Opera House and the Musikalische Komödie. Further events and locations will be published in each monthly calendar.

The Opera will present 4 premieres and 20 revivals

The 21/22 Oper Leipzig season will open on 12 September with Die Feen, Richard Wagner’s early work. The complex preparatory rehearsals for the revival have already begun, with participants’ health taking center stage. The official start will feature Victor Ullmann’s Bühnenweihefestspiel, or »stage consecration play,« entitled Der Sturz des Antichrist, or The Fall of the Antichrist. The production is led by Balázs Kovalik and will be musically directed by Matthias Foremny. The premiere – which honors the memory of the murdered victims of Auschwitz – was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and will be made up in the upcoming season. The fourth premiere of the season is also a Leipzig first: Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade will take the stage in April 2022. Cusch Jung, the Musikalische Komödie’s experienced Artistic Director, will direct this so-called Danish national opera. The 20 revivals set to take place at the Opera House include classics such as Puccini’s Tosca, Verdi’s La traviata, Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s Zauberflöte, and Peter Konwitschny’s legendary production of La Bohème.

Leipziger Ballett presents choreographic, musical, and spatial discoveries

The Leipzig Ballet will also seize the 21/22 season by the creative reins and present three premieres. November brings Ballet Director Mario Schröder’s choreographic world premiere of Rituale meaning »Rituals«, set to music by Franz Schubert and Tōru Takemitsu, played by the Gewandhausorchester under the musical direction of Christoph Gedschold. February brings the German premiere of Edward Clug’s Faust. Clug is the artistic director of the Slovenian National Ballet, and his version of the classic tale is set to music by Milko Lazar. In addition to flowers, May will feature a three-part evening bearing the title Soto/ Scholz/ Schröder, which combines a modern work by the decorated Catalan choreographer Cayetano Soto and a new creation from Mario Schröder set to Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with a piece of dance history by Uwe Scholz. Two projects set for the 21/22 season take the dances beyond the confines of the Opera House’s proscenium arch, when the »Tanz in den Häusern der Stadt« series continues expanding the boundaries of space and time. And in cooperation with the free theatre LOFFT the dancers of the Leipzig Ballet will present their own choreographies as a part of the »Intershop« series, which has become a fan favorite.

The Musikalische Komödie returns to its glittering and updated home

The successful renovation of the Musikalische Komödie at the Haus Dreilinden will have a belated reopening ceremony on 7 October 2021. This event will mark the official kick-off for several long-awaited premieres. It all starts with the premiere of the amusing Juxheirat operetta on 2 October, which will be followed by a wealth of shows: the musical version of Woody Allen’s Bullets over Broadway, Die Kinokönigin by Jean Gilbert, and Me and My Girl by Noel Gay, Arthur Rose, and Douglas Furber, one of Britain’s most successful musical exports. A new operetta workshop, produced in cooperation with the Dirigentenforum des Deutschen Musikrates and set to take place at the Musikalische Komödie, will offer a rare gem for its final concert: Walter Kollo’s humerous »Singspiel« Jettchen Gebert. A grand total of 11 revivals includes productions of Gräfin Mariza, Sweeney Todd, Zar und Zimmermann, two ballet evenings choreographed by Mirko Mahr, and, as a part of the Wagner 22 festival, performances of Der Ring für Kinder, for children.

The »Junge Oper Leipzig« extends an invitation to get interactive

The upcoming season’s large-scale interactive opera project is entitled »Turandot für Kinder«, and is made possible with OPERA INCANTO. It is set to premiere on 28 April 2022 at the Musikalische Komödie, and is supported by the EU’s »Creative Europe« program. The Junge Oper Leipzig division includes a comprehensive music theater pedagogical program. It offers a variety of opportunities for audience members of all ages, including baby concerts, sing-along concerts for individuals with dementia, classroom ballet, and a wide range of other events and performances. The divisions’ two youth-oriented choirs – the Children’s Choir and the Youth Choir – combined have nearly 200 members. Under the direction of Sophie Bauer, both ensembles also mount their own productions. The upcoming season will see the premiere of King Arthur, a new re-telling of the legendary king set to music by Henry Purcell. »Clubfusion«, a festival of the Drama Clubs produced collaboratively by Schauspiel Leipzig, Theater der Jungen Welt, and Oper Leipzig, will continue in 2022.

Advanced ticket sales start on 1 September

Due to the pandemic, the 2021/22 annual calendar of events will only be published for performances in the two large auditoriums at the Opera house and the Musikalische Komödie. Further events and locations will be published in each monthly calendar. Ticket reservations can be made starting immediately for subscribers. Regular ticket sales will begin on 1 September 2021. In addition, the Oper Leipzig Card, which offers a 40% discount, and the Junge Oper Leipzig Card, which comes with 10-Euro tickets, the Oper Leipzig will once again offer an opening night subscription series.

Information regarding the calendar of events, subscription services, current public health regulations, and ticket sales (15 € – 78 €) are available at the Opera House Ticket Office at Tel: +49 (0)341 – 12 61 261 (Mon – Sat 10.00am – 7.00pm), via E-Mail: service@oper-leipzig.de or online at www.oper-leipzig.de.