Also the Youth Opera Leipzig has its premiere and presents Gold by Leonard Evers on 23 November, based on the well-known fairy tale by the Grimms The Fisherman And His Wife. The story about greed and fortune is for children aged 6 and up – staged by Leipzig Opera’s music theatre teacher Christina Geißler, with percussion, illustrations and mezzo-soprano Nora Steuerwald.

The team around the new opera director Tobias Wolff is also launching further events of encounters and discussions in November. Music Director Christoph Gedschold invites the audience to a wine evening on 2 November, and tenor Martin Petzold is to meet at a special afternoon tea on 19 November. The first Future Talk of the season will take place 11 November in the costume workshops of the opera house, which are otherwise closed to non-experts. Two major subjects that opera and operetta have always to deal with remain socially and politically acute and topical, too: feminism and racism. On 29 November at the Schaubühne Lindenfels, the image of women on stage will be the focus of "Achtung!Achtung! Klischee" at the Schaubühne Lindenfels, where, alongside performance artist Lulu Obermayer, female artists from the Leipzig Opera will share their experiences. Special guest at the Musikalische Komödie on 16 November will be the bestselling author Tupoka Ogette, one of the best-known anti-racism counsellors in Germany, with a reading.

The Leipzig Opera 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, Leipzig Opera includes the Musikalische Komödie, a special venue for musical and operettas. With around 680employees, it is the city’s largest in-house cultural institution and comprises five mainstays: the opera, Musikalische Komödie, Leipzig Ballet, their 360° outreach and educational programme, and the craft studios which work for all of the city’s theatres.

Tobias Wolff is General Director (Intendant) of Leipzig Opera 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 and Music Director 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 Managing Director of the Musikalische Komödie.

www.oper-leipzig.de/en

Oper Leipzig’s Booklet of Season 22/23 online (German)