Established And Upcoming World-Class Makers Featured At Operadagen Rotterdam

A homage to major composers including Richard Wagner, Philip Glass, and Louis Andriessen, an ode to power women such as Harriet Tubman and Sylvia Plath, dozens of pioneering makers and young talent plus a brand-new edition of GALA! Experience all of this and more at the 14th edition of Operadagen Rotterdam. The festival, which comprises over 100 performances, both in Rotterdam's large theatres and in unexpected locations across the city, runs from 17 through 26 May. The online ticket sales have been started.

Operadagen Rotterdam, the annual festival for today's opera and music theatre, will be unleashed from 17 through 26 May. The festival's programme caters to a general audience but is also an important hub for opera and music theatre professionals from around the world. Operadagen Rotterdam is permanently hosting the triannual competition Music Theatre NOW and 10 award-winning international performances can be experienced in the Netherlands for the first time. Operadagen Rotterdam will give out the prizes for innovative music theatre at GALA!, currently in its third edition.

The festival revolves around the theme of Metamorphosis in 2019. In this context, Operadagen Rotterdam presents the world premiere of 8. Metamorphosis in Nieuwe Luxor Theater in Rotterdam. Nicole Beutler drew her inspiration for the modern dance opera from M.C. Escher, Ovid, and the famous Purcell's Cold Song.

The upcoming festival opens on Friday 17 May with three performances in Theater Rotterdam, Schouwburg location. Drag queens in lip sync give a fresh perspective on female power in the sensational Reading Salomé from Berlin. Singer and composer Sophia Brous collected dozens of lullabies from many sources in various refugee camps in Europe for Lullaby Movement: A Song Cycle.

The Iranian performance Promethe/Plaque provides a fascinating arrangement of the old-Greek tragedy Prometheus bound. It is one of 10 performances that won a prize at Music Theatre NOW. As per tradition, the opening event closes with First Night at the Opera featuring previews of the festival programme in all nooks and crannies of the theatre.

Operadagen Rotterdam brings inspiring and poignant stories to Rotterdam from different points of the compass embedded in performances from over 15 countries, including the Greek cyberpunk opera The Cave. A multimedia performance that looks critically at the modern digital world.

Among the international highlights are Einstein on the Beach by the American master composer Philip Glass and Il Diluvio Universale, a recently unearthed treasure from Michelangelo Falvetti's baroque music oeuvre, which is performed by Cappella Mediterrana and Choeur de Chambre de Namur under the Argentinian top conductor Leonardo García Alacón.

Operadagen Rotterdam pays homage to composer Richard Wagner. And what better way than with one of the best-known works from opera history, the Ring of the Nibelung. Prominent conductor Edo de Waart presents the first act of The Valkyrie as a grandiose and bloodcurdling narrative.

Director Arlon Luijten from Rotterdam shows Wagner's Twilight of the Gods // Een Vernietigingsfeest in a new light as an interactive opera game. Something needs to be broken to change the world. What needs to be broken? is the key question put to the audience.

Director Jorinde Keesmaat combines two of Louis Andriessen's distinctive works into a single opera experience. She pairs the rarely performed Odysseus' Women(1995) with the well-known Anaïs Nin (2010). A tribute to a celebrated composer who knows, like no other, how to bring to life his fascination for remarkable women from world history.

New works can be viewed in surprising numbers at Operadagen Rotterdam. This year's festival provides a platform to major talents and pioneering makers such as Lisa Verbelen (ALL.) and ARIAH LESTER (THE GATE) while CLUB GEWALTshows its colours in eight late-night club events.

Operadagen Rotterdam would not be Operadagen Rotterdam without staging a programme in surprising and unusual locations in the city. 'Vaarwel Dijkzigt' is a unique musical route that winds through the former Dijkzigt Hospital. Together with various choirs from Rotterdam, Wunderbaum presents an exciting singalong spectacle, Het Nationale Lied, with tearjerkers, folk songs, and Dutch-language rock songs.

The audience is treated to an annual free concert in the Paradijskerk in the first festival weekend, part of the run-up to the colourful urban festival Orfeo & Majnun in the heart of the city. The Burgerzaal in City Hall provides the scenery for the silent movie The Merry Widow, with a live organ concert played by Rotterdam's very own carilloneur, Geert Bierling, while audience members are invited to watch the performance VIOLA, seated in the shop windows of the Bijenkorf department store.
Operadagen Rotterdam closes in a festive mood at the Crooswijkse Koeweide with a singalong concert featuring opera songs and sentimental ballads on its final day.

The total festival programme can be viewed at www.operadagenrotterdam.nl from today and the online ticket sales have started. There is an attractive cumulative discount when you visit several performances. Or, fully immerse yourself in the festival with the Operadagen Rotterdam Festival pass.

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