Public Success and Sustainability at Oper Leipzig

The best-attended performances at Oper Leipzig during the previous 2022/23 season include »Don Giovanni« at the Opera House, Leipzig Ballet’s »Der kleine Prinz« and »Anatevka« at the Musikalische Komödie, with halls that were consistently full by up to 100%. »To score this kind of public success with a number of our new productions straight away is both very gratifying and a validation of our programming.« concludes Tobias Wolff, summing up his first season as Director, which also marked the first season since Covid that was not hit by any closures. Handel’s »Giulio Cesare« directed by Damiano Michieletto, which along with the co-producing Théâtre des Champs Elysées also graced the Halle Handel Festival and the Bach Festival Leipzig, will return to Leipzig in 2025 following additional stops in Rome and Toulouse. The Leipzig premiere of »Peter Grimes« at the Opera and »Fusion« with AI artist Harry Yeff at the Leipzig Ballet met with great response from the media. Oper Leipzig also carried on the Wagner tradition in its repertoire, and celebrated the 150th birthday of Rachmaninov with the known ballet performance dedicated to him.

Audiences are returning

The season was launched with »Future: NOW!«, an open-air event at the Augustusplatz, together with the independent theatre Titanick and over 200 participating children and youths, which set the stage for a programme emphasising approachability and new formats. As part of the new 360° education programme, audio description was introduced, regular Sunday matinées were offered prior to premieres, and pre-performance talks in the Musikalische Komödie were added to the programme for the first time, all of which proved to be very popular right from the start. Tobias Wolff: »We are especially proud of the above-average number of audience members who are visiting our venues for the first time, as well as the acquisition of numerous young people through the offer of our Junge Oper Leipzig Card. Audiences are returning and rediscovering what we are all about.«

Sustainability and digitisation

At the Oper Leipzig, the city’s largest cultural institution, Tobias Wolff, together with CEO Lydia Schubert and the management team, also set a new course in terms of organisation and business. Even prior to the start of the first CO2 evaluation, the transformation project “Sustainable Costumes” in cooperation with the Icelandic Opera won funding from Fedora and Opera Europa. The project was also awarded one of the “eku – Future Prizes for Energy, Climate, Environment in Saxony” by the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture. Oper Leipzig is also a pilot project for the new climate calculator currently being developed for the cultural sector by the cities of Leipzig and Dresden. In terms of administration, digitisation has been and is being driven forward in great strides, in terms of document management, digital signatures, payroll accounting with partners and job applicant management. Marketing and sales are evaluating the subscription and pricing system with respect to the economic plan for the next three years, which is currently being developed.

Season break from July 10 to August 21, 2023.

During this time, the Opera Box Office can be reached by phone 10 am – 3 pm on +49 341 1261 261 or by email at service@oper-leipzig.de

The first performance of the new season will take place on August 30, 2023, and the first premiere will be »Majesty & Madness« on September 21, 2023. The complete performance schedule can be found online at www.oper-leipzig.de